Abdul Rasool Syed |
Admittedly, America’s policy to deal with Pakistan revolves around the ambitions of its strategic partner India in the region. To woo India, it is poised to do everything possible even at the cost of her relations with her so-called most allied ally Pakistan. Washington’s tilt towards Delhi and her preference of Delhi over Islamabad is now a conspicuous phenomenon. Many epithets attributed to India’s place in the US grand strategy and global geopolitics emerged from Washington clearly define the importance and value of the bilateral relationship that Washington seeks to maintain with India.
The US called India a” rising democratic power in dynamic Asia”. Defense cooperation with India was viewed as a “linchpin” in the U.S rebalancing strategy towards Asia-Pacific. India has been designated a “major defense partner” of the United States and the latest U.S National Security Strategy (NSS) has welcomed India’s emergence as a” leading global power”. Add to this the U.S former president Barrack Obama hailed the India-US relations as having the enormous potential to be “one of the defining partnerships of the 21St century”.
Furthermore, according to Gallup’s annual world affairs survey, India is perceived by Americans as their sixth favorite nation with 71% of Americans viewing India favorably in 2015 and in 2017 with an increase, 74% of Americans viewed India favorably. To add, the US is also lobbying for a permanent position of India in U.N Security Council. In the light of preceding arguments, one can measure the depth and the warmth of the relationship that the two countries nurture for each other.
To cap it all, until the US administration stops pursuing Nikki Haley’s pro-India diplomatic credo and Modi’s anti-Pakistan political narrative, Pak-US relations will continue to be plagued by mutual mistrust and inveterate suspicion.
On the other hand, our checkered history of relationship with the US is witness to the fact that the U.S always exploited us to serve her vested interests and once her interests are served, it disposed us of like a tissue paper. Washington never treated us at par with India rather it ditched us when we needed her support to maintain the balance of power in the region and defend ourselves from our chronic rival India from aggression.
On, May 1947, Quaid-e Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah received two American visitors at his Bombay residence. They were Raymond A. Hare, head of Division of South Asian affairs, department of state and Thomas E, Weil second secretary of the US embassy in India. He sought to impress on his visitors that the emergence of an independent, sovereign Pakistan would be in consonance with American interests.
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Pakistan, as a Muslim country would be a bulwark against Soviet aggression. Mr. Jinnah coupled the danger of Soviet aggression with another menace that the Muslims might confront. That was “Hindu Imperialism”. The establishment of Pakistan, Mr. Jinnah told the Americans, was essential to prevent the expansion of Hindu Imperialism into the region. To our dismay, US did not pay any heed towards what our great Quaid foretold.
Consequently, our mistaken belief that the United States would rush to our help if India attacked Pakistan was shattered when Indian troops crossed our border in 1971 and physically entered East Pakistan. America, our ally and longtime friend, did nothing to repel Indian aggression. Such are the harsh realities inherent in an unequal friendship. In addition, as a token of friendship for the people of Pakistan, America’s most allied ally for more than six decades, President Clinton reluctantly agreed to drop in briefly in Pakistan on 25th March 2000 and spent about four hours in Islamabad after a spectacular five days visit to India.
Many epithets attributed to India’s place in the US grand strategy and global geopolitics emerged from Washington clearly define the importance and value of the bilateral relationship that Washington seeks to maintain with India.
Moving ahead, his successor Barrack Obama utterly ignoring and bypassing Pakistan visited New Delhi twice during his tenure. It vividly reflects our status in the eyes of Uncle Sam. US always treated us as its satellite and therefore did not ever strive to cultivate a relationship with us on the basis of mutual respect and sovereign equality. In this respect, the farewell address of George Washington will ever remain an important legacy for the small nations like Pakistan.
In that notable testament, the father of the American republic cautioned that “an attachment of a small or a weak toward great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. The strong might have interests and objectives that could be of little real importance to the weak; but once the latter is submitted to acting the role of a satellite, it would find it no easy task to avoid being used as a tool by the strong.
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It is now high time to rid ourselves of the servitude of the United States and defy its dictates that serve the interests of our adversaries. A cautious analysis of the US demands from Pakistan suggests that America with utter disregard to our sensitivities wants to please its strategic partner India. That’s why it has adopted an India-centric policy in its dealings with Pakistan. The pro-India wish list of the US can be summed up as follows:
Americans want that Pakistan should not seal its border with Afghanistan as it does not suit India. There are multiple pieces of evidence that corroborate Indian’s involvement in orchestrating the cross-border terrorism through Pak-Afghan porous border. They further require Pakistan to dismantle Haqqani network. It is also desired by India, the inglorious US strategic partner. Moreover, they want Pakistan to roll-back CPEC as it eclipses the global and regional interests of both strategic partners.
It vividly reflects our status in the eyes of Uncle Sam. US always treated us as its satellite and therefore did not ever strive to cultivate a relationship with us on the basis of mutual respect and sovereign equality.
Another demand of the US from Pakistan is to eliminate Hafiz Saeed and the humanitarian organization that he is associated with—since Indian terrorists are scared of him. Besides, America also wishes that Pakistan should carry on hosting approximately three million Afghan refugees as they are a liability on Islamabad’s limited resources, but a valuable asset for Americans and Indians providing ready-to-use terrorists against Pakistan.
Furthermore, the oval office is also keen to persuade Islamabad to demonstrate a pro-US/ India strategic shift and thereby facilitate Bush’s doctrine of American pre-emptive wars in the region. The US has also asked Pakistan to call back 29 dodgy NGOs expelled recently by Pakistan since they were spying for RAW and CIA and restore anti-Pakistan radio and social media networks because they work for CIA and RAW. This too is being coveted on the behest of Indian and the US espionage dispensation.
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Lastly, America also underscores Pakistan to respect the Indian role in Afghanistan because India has invested $2 billion there. To counter this pro-India policy of the United States, Pakistan should carry on dealing with Americans by pro-actively pursuing our national interests demonstrating no love, no hate precept. Further, complete border fencing with Afghanistan, tight aerial coupled with ground surveillance is the need of the hour.
Americans want that Pakistan should not seal its border with Afghanistan as it does not suit India. There are multiple pieces of evidence that corroborate Indian’s involvement in orchestrating the cross-border terrorism through Pak-Afghan porous border.
Additionally, Pakistan should take Iran into confidence on Afghanistan in order to bolster border control with Tehran. Pakistan should also be prepared to tackle daesh/ISIS threat from Afghanistan. Reportedly, Thousands of ISIS terrorists are being trained by India and Israel to use them against Pakistan through permeable Pak-Afghan border. Moreover, Pakistan must enhance its diplomatic activities with Russia, China, Turkey, Iran, and Central Asia.
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To this end, a separate post of specialized Minister of state for the region covering the aforesaid countries should be created in the foreign office. Apart, Pakistani diplomats, academics, politicians, and intellectuals must attend every conference, talk and seminars addressed by the Indians, Afghans, and Americans. Finally, Pakistan must launch a large epistemic community with a mandate to counter the traditional US-India rhetoric against Pakistan.
To cap it all, until the US administration stops pursuing Nikki Haley’s pro-India diplomatic credo and Modi’s anti-Pakistan political narrative, Pak-US relations will continue to be plagued by mutual mistrust and inveterate suspicion.
Advocate Abdul Rasool Syed is a lawyer by profession and is based in Quetta, Baluchistan. He also has MBA from IBA Karachi. He is passionate about writing and contributes to various publications including Daily Times and Frontier Post. The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.