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 | US mollycoddles Pak Our Correspondent US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was considerably candid in lambasting her country’s policy towards Pakistan over the last 30 years as “incoherent.” She said, “I think when we ask the question it is fair to apportion responsibility to the Pakistanis. But it’s also fair for us to ask ourselves what we have done…? And what role did we play in the situation that the Pakistanis currently confront?” A more pro-Pakistani statement has not emanated from Washington for quite some time. She went on, “We came in the 1980s and helped to build up Mujahedeen to take on the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The Pakistanis were our partners in that. Their security service and their military were encouraged and funded by the United States to create the Mujahedeen in order to go after the Soviet invasion and occupation.” It is astonishing and depressing that Clinton is trying to downplay the nefarious role Islamabad played in fomenting trouble in India (and elsewhere) during the jihad against communism in Afghanistan. From the American perspective, overlooking Pakistan’s wickedness in the 1980s—a high watermark of cold war—made some sense, for it was a key US ally in South Asia, while India fought a quixotic war against ‘imperialism’ and opposed the US on many an issue. That was then. Now, in the 21st century, almost two decades after the end of cold war, the imperatives of geopolitics have changed. Today, India is no longer a backward nation with a closed economy and a sanctimonious foreign policy; it is an emerging economy with a vibrant democracy and a desire to engage with the US. On the other hand, Pakistan has outlived its utility in Washington’s war against communism—and it was indeed a heroic war which shielded mankind from the evil of the most violent ideology in the world. It was because of Pakistan’s policies during the Zia regime and afterwards that created the abomination called Taliban; these bloodthirsty zealots have proved to be myriad Frankenstein’s monsters, eager to gobble up their creator and wreak havoc all over the world. The tragedy is that Islamabad is still reluctant to act against the jihadis; whatever it is doing is because of international pressure. But the US refuses to accept this reality and is unwilling to shed the cold war dogmas. This is the reason that the US has diluted conditionalities to the aid (which has tripled) to Pakistan. Washington has failed to secure any solid pledges from Islamabad over not abetting terror in India. Clinton’s candor has not been translated into action. The US continues to mollycoddle Pakistan despite the latter’s proven track record in sponsoring and exporting terror and indulgence in nuclear and missile proliferation. Posted on : 5/22/2009 Mail this article to your friend |