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Pakistan in a spot, will the US let it down?

By: KS Rajagopal

Cartoons after cartoons in the international and Indian media have ridiculed the US policy on Pakistan, particularly for giving billions of dollars to the country every year in civilian aid as most of the financial assistance was used to fund jihadi activities in neighbouring countries and elsewhere. With this money and also the funds raised through narcotics trade, Pakistan-based terrorist groups have been running extensive networks and conducting operations in Europe, Middle East and Asia.

Criticizing America’s Pakistan policy, a US think tank reported that the funds had not been adequately and effectively spent by the Pakistan government. It also pointed out misappropriation of funds and large-scale military corruption in Pakistan. A complete lack of transparency about the use of foreign aid by the state had been evident all those years. It’s, indeed, an irony that the funds provided by the US to contain or eliminate the banned extremist outfits in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region had been misused by Pakistan, helping the same area turning into breeding ground of religious fundamentalists with mushrooming madrasas. The US and NATO defence reports confirm that the area either side of the border where law of the jungle prevails became the hub of exporting jihadists overseas.

Notorious terrorist outfits Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and Haqqani Network along with Afghan Taliban targeted the US institutions and brought the Western troops to their knees in Afghanistan while al-Qaeda which has firm roots in North West Pakistan and Islamic State (IS) confronted the US troops in Iraq. At the same time, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e- Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Jhanavi, all based out of Pakistan, carried out attacks against civilians, soldiers and the government establishments in India and other South East Asian countries.

Also Read: Afghan’s ethnic diversity: Hazaras live a life of humiliation as Taliban rule the roost

No one can comprehend what Pakistan really intends when it claims that it’s the victim of terrorism and at the same time it harbours leaders of the blacklisted terrorist groups. Pakistan’s role in its proclaimed ‘war on terror’ has been found to be dangerously suspicious as it has been relentlessly pushing fighters of LeT, JeM, etc. into Kashmir and letting loose Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and Haqqani Network in Afghanistan despite admonition from the respective nations. It is against this background that India’s First Secretary Sneha Dubey said at the UN General Assembly in New York on September 24 that Pakistan is ‘arsonist’ disguising itself as ‘fire-fighter’.

USAID reports show Pakistan has received a total of $33 billion in aid from the US since September 11, 2001, that included economic and military aid, of which, it revealed, $25.91 billion had reached the country before 2013.

Military assistance included compensation to damage,  reimbursements for providing service and logistics, and purchase of modern equipment, weapons and helicopters as part of counter terrorism operations in the north-western frontier of the country. Economic assistance included building of roads, bridges and other development projects meant for civilians.

 

The flow of US aid to Pakistan increased after September 11,2001 because since then the US had been directly involved in the Afghanistan quagmire with the intent to hunt down the perpetrators of 9/11 and their associates and to destroy their facilities. Hence, Pakistan’s military and logistic supports became crucial for the US mission.

Since Afghanistan is a landlocked country without a seaport, the US excessively depended on Pakistan for continued shipments of artillery, arms and ammunition, hundreds of civilian and military vehicles, dozens of fighter jets and helicopters, truckloads of spare parts and other raw materials. As a result, the already busy Karachi port and the city began to witness unprecedented security measures. Pakistan’s profit in the entire exercise increased many folds.

This exercise by the US was full of pitfalls. From the Karachi port to Afghanistan via Khyber Pass is a long and hazardous corridor. Without the support of Pakistan Army and local tribal leaders, foreign military convoys couldn’t pass though the areas. There were numerous instances in which extremists ambushed convoys and seized vehicles laden with sealed bags of lethal weapons and explosives on the way to the border crossing into Afghanistan.

Pakistan Army and Police were supposed to provide protection to the convoys, yet the US and NATO forces had to please former warlords and tribal leaders in the region by  giving them bribes running into millions of dollars in order to ensure the convoys’ safe passage. Ironically, the bribe money and the looted weapons were widely used by insurgents against foreign forces.

Though late, the US administration knew the ground realities when Pakistan falsely incurred expenditure on buying choppers as part of the counter terrorism operations but actually the choppers couldn’t be of much use in the north-western frontier of Pakistan as it is a hilly terrain with forests. The US also found that the Army recruits in the operation were not in the possession of modern equipment and not wearing even boots. In fact, Pakistan had received millions of dollars under these heads.

The US had conveyed its concern over the counter terrorism operations to Pakistan and also warned multiple times that unless Pakistan sincerely acted against the terrorists, economic assistance would not be released. Though Pakistan promised that they would act and sought more time, a full- fledged anti-terror operation by Pakistan Army never materialized.

After 2014, the US assistance to Pakistan plummeted steadily. Simultaneously, the US and allies started pulling out their troops and limited their operations to highly volatile areas in Afghanistan.  And finally on August 31, this year, they got rid of the Afghanistan-Pakistan mess. For the US, leaving Afghanistan meant leaving Pakistan too because they seemed to be inseparable twin brothers.

Still aligning with the hardline Taliban and other jihadi elements in Afghanistan, Pakistan displeased its long-time ally, the US, and other Western countries. Also, Pakistan’s collaboration with China has angered the US to the extent that it reportedly plans to block loans from international monetary organizations like World Bank to Pakistan.

It’s conspicuous that so far, American President Joe Biden has not met Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. Whereas, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Biden already had bilateral talks. It is a worrying situation for Pakistan which needs the support of the US and Western capitals to ramp up its growth.

By: KS Rajagopal

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