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If history is any guide, the United States is good at annoying its friends - the latest example being the US Department of Defense's report sent to the Congress, which accuses Pakistan of using 'proxies' in furtherance of its regional interests. More pointedly, it insists that terrorist sanctuaries inside Pakistan continue to operate against Afghanistan and India. Perhaps but for the gleeful projection of the report by the Indian media - the fallacy of contentions of the report is all the more hurtful for its timing that's coincidental with the Wagah carnage. Pakistan government might have shrugged it off by saying: "we have heard it before". The government of Pakistan, however, has been bending over backwards to appease New Delhi and humour up Kabul, hoping and wishing to help obtain peace and stability in the region. While India keeps raising pressure on the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary (WB); the official response of our government, to much public dismay, is however nearly nonchalant. And as regards Kabul, Pakistan's unprecedentedly warm sentiments have been conveyed to the newly-elected Afghan leadership. It is no surprise then that Pakistan has sharply reacted to the Pentagon's reported worldview, firmly rejecting its contentions as 'unwarranted' and 'unsubstantiated allegations'. US Ambassador Richard Olson was summoned to the Foreign Office to receive PM's Advisor Sartaj Aziz's terse warning that Pakistan government took 'serious exception' to the comments contained in the report. How far removed from reality is the Pentagon's report? No other country has suffered so much at the hands of terrorist, who essentially originated as an aftermath of US-led 'Jihad' in Afghanistan to oust its rival superpower, than Pakistan. Had terrorist outfits been such valuable assets of Pakistan as the Pentagon report tends to suggest, Pakistan would not have suffered thousands of civilian and security personnel's casualties and launched a full-fledged military operation in North Waziristan to wipe out terrorist sanctuaries. That these so-called proxies have not allowed ISAF, the present times, one of the most formidable war machines, score a decisive victory over them in Afghanistan is scandalous to say the least. The truth is that all long these ten yeas the coalition troops were fighting the Afghan insurgents, and not the proxies, but failed to subdue them. Perhaps before accusing the Pakistani 'proxies' of being the thorn in India's side, the US military establishment should have read something about Kashmiris' decades-long freedom struggle, or someone from among them accompanied Narendra Modi during his visits of Srinagar to witness the popular 'welcome' that he received in the state's capital city.
We don't know if the said report has a domestic political angle, released as it was on the eve of midterm Congressional elections as a cover-up for the Obama administration's debacle in Afghanistan. But many were not hoodwinked by this responsibility-shifting exercise; reflected the election results that show victory of the Republicans are a strong case in point. Of course, the American generalship rides roughshod over advice of the US State Department, and in the process sometimes triggers quite an unwarranted war as it did by invading Iraq in 2003. Barrack Obama was expected to be different from the run of mill American presidents who start wars, destroy countries and leave never to look back. But while in office he acted very much like his predecessors, in fact even more vigorously. In the name of democracy - but actually for oil - he stepped up war in Iraq and then abruptly left it in ruins. Then it was Libya, and now Afghanistan where Kabul is being left to stew in its own juice. Democracy may come or may not to these countries but what has come as of now is sheer chaos and anarchy. Yes, there are terrorists of many hues and stripes in Pakistan. But there are also terrorists here in Pakistan who are others' proxies, particularly in Balochistan and Karachi. Pakistan is fighting them all, and expects of its allies to recognise this fact in letter and spirit. That tongue in cheek, the report says Pakistan 'uses these proxy forces to hedge against the loss of influence in Afghanistan and also to counter India's superior military'. It may be news to the report writers of the US Department of Defense that the leadership the Afghan election has thrown up is the best option Pakistan had hoped for. In their election Pakistan is a net gainer. As for India, Pakistan is not at all worried about its 'superior military'. Both the countries are nuclear powers and their respective conventional forces are in the form and size dictated by their threat perceptions.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2014

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