The euphoria over the successful democratic elections in Pakistan on February 18 has unleashed a torrent of commentary on what next for the US "War on Terror"? The biggest question that seems to be leading to sleepless nights in Foggy Bottom and parts of even academia it seems is whether a democratically elected government might now decide it is not in Pakistan's interest to prosecute the US's war in Afghanistan. President Pervez Musharraf had agreed to allow limited US operations from Pakistani soil but did not level with his own countrymen it seems. The story now breaking from the US is that the Predator drones that often attack targets inside Pakistan fly from a base in Pakistan.
Will a democratic government continue this practice of deception? In other words, was the US better off having an autocrat at the helm in Pakistan?
The latest hand-wringing statement on this conundrum comes from Graham Allison of Harvard, an expert on nuclear issues, who now has become an expert on foreign policy and Pakistan in particular. In his op-ed, laced with inaccuracies, in the Boston Globe he states:
A Pakistani government whose actions align with its citizen's views on these issues would be at loggerheads with the United States.
Such misguided analysis misses the point that the reason why the Pakistani citizenry opposes the US is because the US supported a military regime for the past eight years in Pakistan against the people of Pakistan. Musharraf was seen by increasingly large numbers of Pakistanis as doing the US' bidding and ignoring the wishes of his own people. Gradually, he lost the support of all major social groups that initially supported him: the intellectuals, the media, the lawyers.
Today Musharraf is isolated. No one in Pakistan speaks for him, except his own ex-military spokesman, who is paid to do so. Not even his King's Party, the now discredited and defeated Pakistan Muslim League Q that has gone eerily silent. The only voices of support now seem to emerge from his few American well-wishers, like Allison, who are looking to maintain the comfortable old patron-client relationship between the US and Pakistan.
This confuses the ordinary Pakistani: Isn't America supposed to welcome democracy? If so, why does it distrust it in Pakistan?
While the past history of Pakistan's politicians is not one to inspire confidence, they have lived through difficult times in the past eight years and if they learned any lessons, it will be critical for them to put Pakistan first in everything that they do. Musharraf used that slogan but never translated it into action. Indeed, it will be in Pakistan's interest that the war on terror now becomes Pakistan's own war, since the battles will be fought within Pakistan and not just militarily but also with economic and political weapons. For once, the Pakistan army will need to work in tandem with the political system to address the underlying issues that have fostered the spread of Talibanization in Pakistan, as Musharraf's regime dithered. If they cannot work together, the country faces dire prospects. And time is not on its side.
The challenge now facing the US is to accept this fledgling democracy and allow it to find its feet. And for Pakistan's new government to be bold in attacking the insurgency with all the weapons at its command, not just military might. The deal making with the militants that failed Musharraf will fail the new government too. It's a huge responsibility. But the new government should not sacrifice Pakistan's sovereignty to the US's short-term interest as the ancien regime did.
Shuja Nawaz is the author of Crossed Swords: Pakistan, its army, and the wars within, due April 2008 from Oxford University Press. He regularly appears as a commentator on television, radio, and at think tanks and on his own website www.shujanawaz.com
1. Not going to be into nation building (2000).
2. Osama Bin Laden can run but cannot hide. $35 million reward, Dead or Alive (2001).
3. Go to war in Afghanistan (2002). These terrorists hate America because we are a free and democratic society.
4. Forget Osama and go get Saddam in Baghdad. "Mission Accomplished"
5. Iraq must adopt a government like ours. Nation Building?
On and on it goes...
People around the world are not ignorant of the fact that the Bush/Cheney administration has violated the Constitution of the United States with the Patriot Act, as well as violate the rights of foreign nations by invading them. Does any nation want a constitution that can be as easily violated as ours?
Seems like this administration wants this government to be modeled after that of Saudi Arabia, the actual source of this whole mess in the first place.
The United States is ambivalent to pro-US socialist democracies (as we are seeing in the US reaction to Ecuador), the United States loathes anti-US socialist democracies (the United Nations has overseen Venezuela's elections), the United States is ambivalent to anti-US capitalism (as we are seeing in its love/hate relationship with China).
On the other hand, the United States wants to roll out the red carpet to Mexico, home of the disappearing ballot box and the ever-widening gap between rich and poor.
But the populist movement in Pakistan--his dry run for a fascist state here--has him up and pacing the floor at night. Even though Musharraf fired the Supreme Court, declared martial law, and suspended his own constitution, The People have awoken, and spoken! What fear that must put in Bush's heart when he thinks of that possibility gaining momentum here!
In other words, the United States Government prefers democracies it owns.
Pakastanis have quite different points of view of what democracy actual is as well. It is an Islamic nation and they have yet decided if imposing Sharia Law means democracy or if some western secular society means democracy. You will get a different answer depending on what part of the country you are in. Our media only seems to talk to one part of Pakistani society which is elite class western educated. Thet class is certainly not a bad point o view it's just not the only point of view.
What the US needs to support is education. That's what the Saudi Arabia did. They supported the education of the poor by funding the madrassah system. The real way to fight the War on Terror is not only with drones but also with books.
Until there is education, water and electricity for all the people of Pakistan, I doubt there can be much hope of a democracy.
Pakistan: Madrasas, Extremism And The Military
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=1627
In its new role as key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, Pakistan's military government has toned down many policies that previously fostered militancy and religious extremism within the country and internationally. Action against the Taliban, al-Qaeda and home-grown sectarian terrorists are examples. But the military's confrontation with its former religious allies is likely, at best, a short-term response compelled by circumstances and foreign pressure.
It is doubtful whether the military government has the intent or the will to set Pakistani society on a sustainable course that would lead to political pluralism and religious tolerance. On a key test – reform of madrasas, Pakistani religious schools that breed extremism of many hues – the military government thus far has acted weakly.
Madrasas provide free religious education, boarding and lodging and are essentially schools for the poor. Over one and a half million children attend madrasas.[1] These seminaries run on public philanthropy and produce indoctrinated clergymen of various Muslim sects. Some sections of the more orthodox Muslim sects have been radicalised by state sponsored exposure to jihad, first in Afghanistan, then in Kashmir. However, the madrasa problem goes beyond militancy. Students at more than 10,000 seminaries are being trained in theory, for service in the religious sector. But their constrained worldview, lack of modern civic education and poverty make them a destabilising factor in Pakistani society. For all these reasons, they are also susceptible to romantic notions of sectarian and international jihads, which promise instant salvation . . .
. . . This problem exists with the Saudis as well.
and it's time to recall our troops et. al. hangers-on, and have a big pow-wow about all of this. That's my belief, anyway. I think that there's only ONE way we got this far in debt, and that's through gross negligence and excessive pressure on our Congress. I think that high financiers have pushed and prodded our country and hence our policies out of shape to their liking and for their convenience, and there comes a point when 'corruption' must be declared. Start from the Constitution, and 'thou shalt not steal', and find the 'way forward' from there. RE-form doesn't have to hurt, but you do have to start. DIS-missed!
If you want to read more about my views on the situation in Pakistan, read my blog at:
http://www.rememberjenkinsear.blogspot.com/
Just make sure you have a bucket nearby as you read... kids, can you say "empire?"