Lately I have read a
few interesting but contradictory news about the US policy towards Pakistan. It
is not only a mockery of diplomatic relationship, but also shows the complete
disarray in the US administration. According to one of the news, the US
Military Chief, General Joseph Dunford Said that no victory in Afghanistan was
possible without Pakistan’s support. As against this, the US Defence Secretary,
James Mattis said that the recent
decision to stop reimbursements to the Pakistani military was not a tougher new
policy for Pakistan but did reflect ground realities. He went on to say that
the President Trump’s administration was reviewing its policies for the entire
South Asian region and not just Afghanistan.
This takes me back
into the history as back as 2012 when the then US Secretary of Defence, Leon
Panetta had said, “In order to really have a secure Afghanistan, ultimately
Pakistan is going to have to take responsibility for taking on these terrorists
and eliminating the safe havens”. He also said that the US presence in
Afghanistan would continue beyond 2014
if more of the safe havens were not dealt with more stridently than they’ve
been to date.
Over the years I have
been saying that the US troops will never be pulled out of Afghanistan. My
point of view has been recently substantiated by General Dunford as he warned
against placing the artificial timeline on operations in Afghanistan. He went
to the extent of saying that additional forces for Afganistan security forces
would make them more competitive.
This is not something
new; over the years the US has been saying that restoring peace in Afghanistan
depends on the commitment of Pakistan to fight the terrorist. Instead of
stopping incursions from Afghanistan, Pakistan is often accused of providing
safe sanctuaries to those who are fighting with the occupying forces.
May be the time has
come to find explanations for some basic questions:
1)
Why Afghanistan was invaded by the USSR as well as the US?
2)
Why US wishes to keep its forces there?
3)
Why should Pakistan fight a proxy war of the US?
There is growing
realization in Pakistan that if the USSR had attacked Afghanistan for a passage
to warm waters, the US is not serious in bringing peace to Afghanistan but
achieve other motives. There are suspicions that troops are being kept there
for two reasons 1) to protect the opium growers and refining laboratories and
2) a built up troops for immediate attack in case US arrive at the conclusion
that appropriate time has come to attack Iran.
It may not be wrong
to say that soon after getting independence from the British Raj in 1947,
Pakistan became subservient to the US foreign policy, dominated by ‘cold war’.
Despite putting its existence at stake, it followed the US dictate of taking
anti USSR and anti China stance. However, when the US wanted to make China
friend, Pakistan secretly took Henry Kissinger, the then Secretary of Sate, to Beijing. Since the late seventies, Pakistan has been fighting US Proxy war in
Afghanistan. Therefore the time has come for Pakistan to decide if it wishes to remain part of the US
proxy war or protect its sovereignty.
