As long as General Musharraf was in power, Washington didn't have to worry about the "public discourse" in Pakistan over the fallout of the war in Afghanistan. The commitment was total and it was Pakistan's "own war". With an elected government in power that's not the case anymore, as public clamour gains in decibels that the so-called 'our own war' has been in fact, imposed by the United States.
The incursion into Pakistan by the coalition troops sometimes back provoked this sentiment so strongly that for a good one week or so, Nato supplies through Pakistan were completely disrupted. Among the many reasons that inhibit the Pakistan military from launching an operation in North Waziristan is this public pressure, defined as "public discourse" by Vice President Joe Biden at a press conference in Islamabad on Wednesday - though he had no beef with the Pakistani officials.
"I am not talking about the leadership, I am talking about what has been in the public discourse," he told reporters - ending his joint press conference with Prime Minister Gilani, without answering reporters on what he meant by 'public discourse'.
Perhaps he didn't have to say, for the fact is that Pakistan's alliance with the US-led military expedition in Afghanistan is so unpopular a proposition that it is becoming increasingly problematic for the Pakistani officials to defend it - so much so that VP Biden's meeting with Army Chief General Kayani was described by the ISPR in the barest possible expressions.
The two were together for "some time and discussed matters of mutual interest". Clearly, the perceptional mismatch between Pakistan and the United States is growing over questions like the foreign military presence in Afghanistan, which way to go in order to restore peace in that country, what regional countries should or shouldn't be involved in the peace process and how best to handle the monster of international terrorism.
Of course, we have been hearing about the 'Great Game' in its historical perspective, but in what context the said 'game' was mentioned at the Gilani-Biden parleys we only know peripherally. Prime Minister Gilani reportedly told the visiting American official that 'no Great Game in Afghanistan following the foreign troop pullout would be tolerated,' because the 'unity of Afghanistan' should not be compromised.
Is it that some kind of partition of Afghanistan, along ethnic lines, is being conceived that attracted Gilani's remark; one would like the Foreign Office to explain the background of this discussion on the 'Great Game'. Or, is it indicated by the hasty visit of the Indian foreign minister to Kabul, following closely on the visit here by the Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani-led High Council for Peace in Afghanistan to convey India's insistence that in deciding the future of Afghanistan it cannot be bypassed?
Also, his attempt at removing the 'misconception' that the United States intends to land its boots on Pakistani soil sounded so frivolous and hollow when it was made with drone bombing being heard in the background. These attacks are nothing short of an invasion, and the people think so. Even President Zardari reportedly told Joe Biden that drone attacks undermine the consensus on the war against terrorism.
The confusion so thickly surrounding Vice President Biden's story on the war in Afghanistan and his misconception that it is winnable in case the so-called safe havens in Pakistan's tribal region are eliminated by the Pakistan military is natural, given that the Afghan imbroglio has entered the endgame. The very same American official who is now pledging to stay in Afghanistan even beyond 2014 has been a strong proponent of the cut and run exit from Afghan battlefields strategy.
If his thinking has undergone a dramatic change, he is now exhibiting the fact that the notorious military-industrial complex that so often dictates the course of America's foreign wars, may be twisting his thinking. It is strange that to tackle the al Qaeda and Taliban elements, whose joint strength is no more than a few hundreds, the entire Nato war machine is in the battlefield, and is making no big victories.
It is high time that peace is sought for Afghanistan. In Pakistan, what we face today as terrorism is primarily a reaction to our own 'aggression' against our own people. As the endgame of war in this region plays out, there is a need to reassess our stand on our military commitment with others. And in the meanwhile, we should ask the US and others to plan a peaceful pullout from Afghanistan, without worrying as to who should be left behind as their proxies.