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Pakistan first: The devastating affects of appeasing India kowtowing to the USA. Americans must have been surprised to hear a “No” from Pakistan. Upon insistance they heard “what part of ‘no’ don’t you understand.” However the US did hear a resounding “NO”. Putting blame on Pakistan wont’ help the war on terror. Joe Biden wants to triple the aid to Pakistan but it may be too little too late. Pakistani’s are questioning Pakistan’s support for GWOT (Global War on Terror) known is Pakistan as the Global War on Muslims (GWOM).Hands off Pakistan is the slogan on the Pakistan news media. The Tink Tank Industry in the USA simpy copy each other’s papers.

Brookings finally realizes that Pakistan is not being taken over by the extremists

Pentagon’s new demands Friday, March 14, 2008, Ali Abbas Rizvi

It has been confirmed that the Pentagon recently put up several demands to Pakistan but the “request,” as the Americans like to call it, was rejected by the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence. As reported, among the demands were granting to US military and auxiliary personnel a status equal to technical and administrative staff of the US embassy in Islamabad, allowing these personnel to enter and exit Pakistan without visas, acceptance of the legality of all US licences, including firearms, allowing these personnel to carry arms and wear uniforms across Pakistan, application of US criminal jurisdiction for the personnel, exemption from all taxes, inspection–free import and export of all goods and materials, free movement of vehicles and vessels, including aircraft, without landing or parking fees, free of cost use of US telecommunication systems and all necessary radio spectrum and waiver of all claims to damage, loss or destruction of others’ property, or death to personnel or armed forces or civilians.

To say the least, the demands are unbearable for any sovereign country, including Pakistan. But, at the same time, one may ask why the US has put up these demands and why at this time. First, it is clear that the timing of the US wish list is crucial. The demands have come at a time when President Musharraf, who has been staunchly supporting the US War on Terror, is at his weakest since Oct 12, 1999, when he seized power. On the other hand, a new government is about to be formed in Pakistan after the elections, which surprisingly saw the routing of the PML–Q. Meanwhile, the country is presently being run by a caretaker government, which has a limited mandate. The Pentagon probably concluded that it was the best time to put up these demands and get them approved by President Musharraf, who is soon expected to face enormous difficulties as the PPP and the PML–N move to implement their joint agenda after the formation of a government. It is expected that once the anti–Musharraf alliance is at the helm of affairs, it would be rather difficult for the US to get whatever it wants.

Second, it is apparent that Americans have been facing problems in dealing with the resurgent Taliban, whom they had written off in 2002. The US is claiming that the NATO countries operating in Afghanistan are not meeting their pledges and not doing enough in the fight against Al–Qaeda and the Taliban. NATO has about 40,000 troops in Afghanistan, including 14,000 Americans. In addition, the United States has 12,000 more troops in the country that are operating under American command for conducting what they say are as counterterrorism and support missions. Some 3,200 marines are also on their way to the landlocked country. Subsequently, the Americans may have concluded that they possibly will have to go alone in Afghanistan, and thus the demands put up to the Pakistani government may be related to US efforts to tame the Taliban, who are giving a tough time to the foreign forces in the country. Therefore, there is some probability that the demands could be related to boosting the US forces in their fight in Afghanistan.

Third, the most probable conclusion one may draw from the US wish list is that it is apparently related to the American decision to stay in Afghanistan for a long time and for this they are planning to get a strong hold on facilities and bases that Pakistan has provided them. This is a scary scenario for both Pakistan and Afghanistan and other regional countries, especially Iran and China.

Unfortunately, indications and reports point to this direction. One recent report quoted American colonel Jonathan Ives as saying: “We’ve grown in our commitment to Afghanistan by putting another brigade (of troops) here, and with that we know that we’re going to have an enduring presence… So this is going to become a long–term base for us, whether that means five years, 10 years — we don’t know.” Earlier, former US general Tommy Franks had declared that the US would stay a long time in Afghanistan, and in this regard he had given the example of Korea, where the US forces are stationed since the Fifties. Republican Senator John McCain has also said that Washington should have a permanent military presence in Afghanistan. With a pliant regime in place in Kabul, there is little obstacle to US designs. So, if the US is going to stay in Afghanistan, say for decades, it feels it would require having a more permanent presence in Pakistan as well.

Before the War on Terror, the Americans were present on a long–term basis in Pakistan in the Sixties when they had set up a camp at Badaber near Peshawar. There were listening facilities in place — i.e., the USAF’s 6937th Communications Group –while U–2 reconnaissance flights took place from Peshawar Airbase, flying over the Urals to Bodo in Norway. However, the downing of a U–2 and arrest of Francis Gary Powers over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960, brought to an end the US flights from Pakistan while the communications wing at Badaber was formally closed down on January 7, 1970. It may be that at that time the Americans enjoyed some of the facilities that they have now demanded. But that was a different era and Pakistan was facing different challenges. Few in Pakistan, even in the top echelons of its armed forces, knew what was going on in Badaber and at the Peshawar Air Station. Today, however, the world has changed, and so has Pakistan.

It is no longer possible for Islamabad to meet every demand put up by the Americans. Some of the consequences of granting these demands could be unwarranted US influence on Pakistani society and the country’s social fabric, making mockery of Pakistani law and legal system, confrontation with the local population, possible localised clashes between the Pakistani military and US forces, eavesdropping on the Pakistani military and putting Pakistan’s strategic assets under threat. Meanwhile, the costs that Pakistanis are paying today with regard to the US War on Terror were never so high. The recent twin explosions in Lahore are a case in point.

The writer is news editor, The News, Karachi. Email: abbasrizvi14@hotmail.com