The cost of Pakistan's double game
By Daud Khattak, May 25, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - 6:10 PM
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The past week has witnessed major attacks on key Pakistani military and intelligence facilities by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a group that for the past several years has fought an increasingly brutal and brash war in the heart of the Pakistani state. Yet while the attacks, and in particular the lengthy siege of the Mehran naval base in Karachi, have brought condemnation on the military for lax security procedures, few within Pakistan have openly questioned the state's long-running dance with militant groups, many of whom cooperate closely while alternately working with and fighting Pakistan. But a string of events in the past few years have made the question of Pakistani support for - or allowance of - terrorist and militant groups unavoidable.
In the days after the 9/11 attacks, President Bush's remarks that nations would from then on be "with us or with the terrorists" and his direct threats to Pakistan to sever ties with militants forced then-military leader Pervez Musharraf to take a U-turn and begin targeting selected al-Qaeda and other militant leaders.
However, as the dust from the U.S. warning started settling down, truck-loads of Arab and Uzbek fighters and their Taliban facilitators from eastern Afghanistan's Khost province and other parts of the country started traveling to and settling in Pakistan's tribal areas. Through the payment of money along with various kinds of intimidation, those terrorists and their supporters won the loyalties and support, or simply the acquiescence, of the tribesmen, many of whom continue to suffer at the hands of their unwanted guests.
Yet even after militants were allowed to settle in the tribal areas with little resistance from the Pakistani state, the tribesmen were (and are still) told that it was because of U.S. drone strikes that these "holy warriors" fled to their areas. Hence, each missile against foreign militants or their Pakistani counterparts increased the potential number of militants flowing in and fueled rising anti-Americanism in Pakistan, serving the short-term political interests of pro-Taliban elements in the country's security establishment, while allowing the army to play on anti-American sentiment domestically while still occasionally offering militants to the United States, either for arrest or targeting by drones, as a sign of good faith and in order to maintain a steady flow of military aid.
Recent history provides ample room for suspicion that the relationship between militants and the Pakistani military or intelligence agencies continues. Some key points should lead informed observers, for instance, to suspect some knowledge of slain al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's presence in the highly-secured cantonment town of Abbottabad among Pakistani intelligence officials. For instance, the structure of the house is very different from the rest of the buildings in the area, and that plus the barbed wires atop its 18 to 20 feet high boundary walls would have likely drawn some suspicion to the compound's residents.
The compound is located less than a kilometer from Pakistan's Kakul Military Academy. Security officials, who keep a strict watch on anyone entering and living in a cantonment zone, somehow managed to miss the compound, which sticks out from the others around it. The Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani even visited the Kakul Academy less than 10 days before the May 2 raid, something that was undoubtedly preceded by security officials combing the nearby areas for any suspicious people or activities, as is the standard practice for such visits. Additionally, locals told the writer that three gas connections were provided to the house within a few days after its construction, which otherwise takes weeks if not months. But again, no alarm was raised.
Additionally, groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Sipah-e-Sihaba Pakistan (SSP) continue to operate openly despite being nominally banned. Indeed, locals I have spoken with in Kurram agency blame Pakistani intelligence for bringing the Sunnis against the Shi'a there, simply to show the world that Pakistan is heading towards de-stabilization and only U.S. and international support can save the society from becoming radical (not to mention the benefit accrued by the Haqqani network, who now have space to operate if their North Waziristan sanctuary is compromised). And a brief look at some of the militants operating in Pakistan currently raises questions about how they have been able to implant themselves and continue operating.
For instance, is it believable that Khyber agency-based militant and former bus driver Mangal Bagh, a warlord with no more than 500 volunteers, can operate just 15 kilometers away from Pakistan's 11 Corps headquarters in the town of Bara, kidnapping people from Peshawar and other parts of the country, attacking powerful tribal elders, ministers, and journalists from Khyber agency, attacking NATO supply convoys, and carrying out public attacks and executions? Maulana Fazlullah, a leading warlord in the Swat Valley, a man who was once a chair-lift operator on the Swat River, became the most powerful commander in the area in a span of two years, with little government opposition. When the military conducted an operation in Swat upon the request of the secular Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party (ANP) government in Khyber-Puktunkhwa, Fazlullah somehow managed to break a cordon of 20,000 soldiers backed by helicopters and jets to escape. And in Bajaur, Taliban commander Faqir Muhammad's forces were "cleared" in 2008, but though hundreds of thousands of locals were displaced, their houses destroyed, their crops burnt and their cattle killed, Faqir Muhammad continues to leave peacefully in the agency.
And those who rose up to confront the Taliban received little protection from the government. When the ANP, after coming into power in Khyber-Puktunkhwa, raised its voice against the Taliban, party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan was attacked by a suicide bomber inside his house in his hometown of Charsadda. Since then, the party leadership has lived in Islamabad. The party's spokesman and Information Minister Mian Iftikhar's son was killed by armed men close to his house last July. Mian Iftikhar and another outspoken minister of the KP government, Bashir Bilour, escaped several attempts on their lives; Asfandyar Wali Khan's sister Dr. Gulalay, who is not involved with party politics, was attacked in Peshawar, and ANP lawmaker Alam Zeb Khan was killed in a bomb attack in the same city, before finally the party leadership and members were forced to stop their vocal opposition to the militants.
***
One key problem in the Pakistan-U.S. relationship, particularly in the present situation, is that both countries are dependent on each other despite pursuing contrasting interests in Afghanistan and in South Asia. And to keep this marriage of convenience going, the U.S. will likely come out with some praise for Pakistani efforts, more than Sen. John Kerry did during his recent Islamabad trip, while Pakistan may launch some kind of sham military operation in North Waziristan and may kill or arrest some Haqqani, Taliban or al-Qaeda leaders just to brush aside the U.S. and international opinion about its support for the al-Qaeda and Taliban.
Just last week the Pakistani Army announced the arrest of a "senior Yemeni al-Qaeda operative" named Mohammed Ali Qasim, or Abu Suhaib al-Makki, in the teeming city of Karachi. While al-Makki's place in the al-Qaeda hierarchy is in dispute, he was somehow able to live undisturbed in Pakistan for 10 years, only to be arrested just days after bin Laden's death. Expect to see more "senior" leaders arrested or killed, whether in operations or drone strikes, in the coming weeks and months.
Meanwhile, the Taliban and al-Qaeda affiliates, drawing
covert support from some individuals in the intelligence apparatus, may carry
out attacks in cities, on mosques, and even on military and government
installations just to remind the world that the country is itself a victim of
terrorism - just look for example to last week's devastating
suicide bombing in Charsadda on a paramilitary constabulary post, claimed by
the TT
P, the attacks
last week against the Saudi consulate and a Saudi diplomat in Karachi, or this
week's attacks against the Mehran base and yesterday's attack
on the police Criminal Investigations Department in Peshawar.
The Pakistani media does not and will not help ease the heightened tension between Pakistan and the United States. Heavily influenced by the security establishment, it presents an image of the society that is anti-American to the core. This image is simply not true, but instead originated from the handpicked anchorpersons of the private Pakistani TV channels, who run after interviews with Taliban commanders to increase their profiles, and some selected analysts and commentators, who present that picture of Pakistani society to the United States, constantly raising the specter of a Pakistan on the edge of a collapse into fundamentalism.
But instead of turning away from Pakistan, the United States must listen carefully to the demands of the Pakistani security and political establishment, while also plainly conveying their own. And instead of investing in the generals and politicians, the U.S. should focus its attentions more thoroughly on Pakistani society and its long-term economic and social needs that have nothing to do with the Taliban. It is the army and the government who always disappoint the United States, and it is the Pakistani people who always end up disappointed with the United States.
These are the simple but key steps that have to be taken. If not, instability will prevail in Afghanistan and terrorist safe havens will survive in the tribal areas. Innocent people in all parts of Pakistan will continue to fall prey to the Taliban and other jihadist groups, and the eventual U.S. withdrawal from and the hastily arranged peace deal in Afghanistan will not alleviate the situation. But no change can take place unless President Obama and the world revive Bush's ultimatum, and tell Pakistan's military and civilian leadership that they are either "with us or with the terrorists."
Daud Khattak is a journalist working with RFE/RL's Pashto language Mashaal Radio in Prague.
HASHAM AHMED/AFP/Getty Images
EXPLORE:AFPAK, AFGHANISTAN, AFPAK CHANNEL, AL QAEDA, BUSH ADMINISTRATION, BUSH'S LEGACY, PAKISTAN, SECURITY, TALIBAN, TERRORISM, U.S. FOREIGN POLICY 
Pakistani people are represented by its government/Army/ISI
It is NOT just ‘foreign (non-Pakistani) fighters settling in Pakistan’ that are continuing Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan as Mr. Daud Khattak would like us to believe. There are more Pakistani citizens working as terrorists for Taliban, Al Qaeda, LeT and TTP than non-Pakistanis.
When it comes to terrorism in Pakistan, Pakistan has invited jihadi violence upon itself and is undeserving of either sympathy or pity. Pakistan is suffering from self-inflicted wounds.
Unlike what Mr. Khattak propagates, Pakistani people have same beliefs as Pakistani governments and Army/ISI.
Lawyers showered the suspected killer of a prominent Pakistani governor with rose petals when he arrived at court and an influential Muslim scholars group praised the assassination of the governor.
The Pakistani parliament’s joint session convened on 5/13/11 after Osama’s killing, ended after adopting a unanimous resolution condemning the American raid on the Abbottabad compound in which al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed.
Pakistani parliamentarians (representatives of Pakistani people) did not appear to be bothered about Osama living in Abbottabad for the past five years and perhaps in other parts of the country since 9/11.
Osama was a hero in Pakistan even prior to his death and remains one even now.
Nobody forced Pakistani government to facilitate relocation of Osama bin Laden from Sudan to Afghanistan in 1996. Democratic government of Pakistan chose to do so of its own free will.
Nobody forced Pakistani Army and Intelligence to create what ex-CIA official Bruce Reidel called ‘this jihadist Frankenstein’ monster in 1990s. Pakistani Army and Intelligence chose to do so with the full financing provided by Pakistan’s democratic governments at the time.
Is ’poverty, lack of economic development or lack of education’ a valid excuse to promote, spawn, shelter and support umpteen terrorist outfits on Pakistani soil?
Is ’wanting strategic depth’ a valid excuse to terrorize neighbors like Pakistan terrorizes Afghanistan and India or even take over a neighbor like Pakistan took over Afghanistan in 1996 and wants to do so again once U. S. troops depart? Should India create terrorist outfits to terrorize Pakistan and take it over because India feels sandwiched between China and Pakistan?
US ambassador Anne Patterson to Pakistan, wrote in a secret review in 2009 that ‘Pakistan's Army and ISI are covertly SPONSORING four militant groups - Haqqani‘s HQN, Mullah Omar‘s QST, Al Qaeda and LeT - and will not abandon them for any amount of US money‘, as diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks show.
Now how can Pakistan feel threatened by ‘those domestically ensconced terrorist groups’ if Pakistani Army and ISI will NOT abandon them for any amount of US money as reported by ambassador Patterson?
Yes, just like every Irish man is a terrorist and every Bostonian is a terrorist for supporting the IRA.
Like every Israeli is a terrorist (google "Stern Gang" "Irgun")
Like every Catalonian is an ETA member
And every American supports Timothy McVeigh.
GFY buddy.
chickens very much coming home to roost..
The double game is based on a flawed narrative and its reaching the end of its life. As in most double games, we have lost the confidence of all parties concerned by now. The punjabi expression is sau littar tey sau gundey...
see: http://www.brownpundits.com/2011/05/23/pakistan-the-narrative-comes-home-to-roost/
The US military and the Jihadis are in a symbiotic relationship: they need each other to justify their existence, and get more people to back their wrong positions.
And the music plays on.......................
Hold the Pakistani leadership accountable...
Pakistan should be renamed 'Talibanistan'. The nation is at war with itself 24/7; it's like bleeding wound that is beyond repair now. The irony is that the main organs of the state, the pivotal pillars of power patronize and protect terrorists, sponsor terrorism and seem unashamed of what they do! Why would every Tom, Dick and Harry associated with terrorism be found in Pakistan?
Because of Pakistan's vulturous ways, it is a well-known fact that 'all Muslims are not terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims'. The world has been turned turtle, thanks to the Pakistani-bred terrorists. Whereas the teeming millions of this country are certainly not at fault, it is those who rule over them that need to be taught a lesson.
One wonders when all this tyranny will end. Why can't the people of Pakistan rise up, like the Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans and push their military and the civilian leadership aside. The fact that no one talks about human issues, such as education, human rights, provision of food, clean drinking water, gas and electricity in that country speaks volumes of the misery that its almost 200 million people go through each day of their lives.
The West needs to try the Pakistani leadership for war crimes and hold them accountable for the spread of terrorism. The war against terrorism should be fought nowhere else but in Islamabad. Pakistan is a trouble-maker on the global scene; it’s a 'dishonest' power-broker that has no scruples whatsoever.
Is Pakistan and America both playing double game?
An analytical and brilliant article from the young Daud Khattak. Bravo!
Ahson
The war against terrorism should be fought nowhere else but in Islamabad as well as in Rawalpindi (where General Head Quarter which is equivalent to US west point is located) and the street of Lahore, Capital city of Punjab where the planners and mentors of terrorists resides in peace and with leverage and huge power and influence.
Marty and ClearThinking:
It is easy to say that all Pakistanis are terrorists and are responsible for terrorisms. It is not true. The main beneficiary of Wars (against India and Afghanistan) is the mainland Pakistan and expansionist Punjab which claims that it is the custodian of geographical and ideological frontiers of Pakistan vis-à-vis Hindu India and Christian America a (America is a new found enemy). They consider the three provinces of Pakistan such as Pakhtunkhwa including tribal areas, Baluchistan and Sindh as its peripheries and markets. The mainland Pakistan is using tribal areas and Pakhtunkhwa as ‘strategic depth’ against India and US to prolong Afghanistan war. Pakistan wants to create a client state in Afghanistan once again when the NATO withdraw its forces from there.
Now:
I don’t think that Americans or the Westerners are naïve. You (the Western governments and tax payers) have used Pashtuns’ blood and land in Afghanistan and Pakistan against communist Soviet Union to won your cold war. You have empowered rather overpowered Pakistan Army to not only subjugate its own people and shaky civilian government but helped them to create their own expansionist mindset. You are still using Pakistan Army to press democratic uprising in some of the Arab countries and pouring 1.5 billion dollars in their coffers. I don’t think Pakistan is stoppable and once you withdraw from Afghanistan as you will and must, they will send militants to challenge you on your streets in New York, Boston, Washington DC, London, Toronto etc.
If you want to not play such wars on your street, go and re-read Daud Khattak articles and you will find some answers.
Is Pakistan and America both playing double game?
I think you are clear about many issues but if I can assert the one and the only one which is the subjugation of Pakistani people and especially the people of Punjab and converting them to hate mongers and irrational thinkers by Pakistan with billions of dollars of support from US and other westerners along with Holy Saudis. If West and others have invested their tax payers dollars to conquer the heart and mind of Pakistanis and especially Punjabis for over 60 years, how you can say that these people confront the unleashed Pakistani establishment and Army. Pakistani establishment and Army have already conquered Pakistanis and now I think they will use them against the west in many forms and shape. As said by Omar ‘ chickens very much coming home to roost..’ Is the West ready to confront OR pour billions and billions more dollars? Do they have any long term plans to support other nations such as Pashtuns, Baluch and Sindhis?
Jahan, the double game should have been stopped.
The American and British definitely encouraged Pakistani support of Sikh and Islamic terrorism in the 1980's. One could argue that Thatcher, Reagan, Casey, and Gates may have even liked the Idea of anti-India terrorism.
But the open support of the UK and US for Pakistani state sponsored terrorism diminished after 1989 when the USSR collapsed. The UK foreign policy establishment has been anti-India and always will be. The idea of "Kashmiri"/Punjabi terrorism was appealing to the Brits, but Pakistan did it.
Pakistanis and their leadership could have stopped support for Islamic terrorist groups and not played into the hands of the Saudis, Brits, and Americans. However, Pakistanis CHOSE to use terrorism against innocent civilians as state policy after 1989. There is no way around this fact, and now the price must be paid to correct this immoral strategy. The price is the dissolution of Pakistan into 4 states based on ethnicity, separating Punjabis, Pashtuns, Baluchis, and Sindhis. It will work and will allow economic and cultural progress. Millions or billions of people will be better off.
It is just using INNOCENT PASHTUNS to fill their greedy coffers
Pashtuns are a proud race, living on the western side of Pakistan, divided by Durand Line. Pakistan has always used these innocent people for their interests and always used them as scapegoats. Initially they were butchered in the name of so called JIHAD against USSR and now this poor race is becoming victim of Double Game, Daud has mentioned. If US wants an end to the conflict, it has to empower and educate Pashtuns and should aid them directly, rather pumping aid through Islamabad, which never trickles down to these hapless Pashtuns. Resultantly, they still live in the stone-age, and a good tool to be used again in future by Non-Pashtuns for their strategic depth or some other so-called Great Games. May God shower his mercy on these innocent Pashtuns, burning in the Tug of War of Cold War and now GWOT.
absolutely correct article
BigBrother:
I think we most of us here agree that double game should have bwwn stopped. I would say it should have never happed as proud nations don’t play double games e.g. China and India.
The American and British did not only encourage Pakistan but invested heavily to create Islamic terrorism from late 1970s till early 1990s. West did not recognize the reconciliation offered by Dr Najibullah of Afghanistan. The entire west was happily and proudly gone back home while millions of Afghans/Pashtuns were killed and displaced and thus used Afghan blood to counter its enemy No1, the Soviets. In the meantime Pakistan created its own expansionist strategy to not only convert Afghanistan into a client state but use Afghanistan against India as a ‘strategic depth’ . But OBL also got an opportunity to use Afghanistan against US and Israel as he was liberating Palestine. And West lift the unfinished drama of killing.
Refereing to your other point, Pakistanis and their leadership have never shown any wisdom in their short history of over 60 years old age as they always want to be a client state. BTW today no one is ready to accept Pakistan as a client state.
The Pashtuns land of Afghanistan and Pakistan has trillion dollar of huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium fresh water, fruits, forests and industrious people. This land can become a model of economic prosperity and model for the rest of Central Asia and Middle East if peace is brought to the unfortunate land of Pashtuns. Such partnerships and developmental strategies need to be directly built with Pashtuns without any intermediaries. I would also argue that this model should be explored by academia, media and the local governments of Pashtuns in Peshawar Pakistan, Qandahar, Nangrahar and Kabul in Partnership with US and others.
Any disagreement?
Monday June 13,2011; 22 crew members of a Egyptian owned vessel which 22 crew members consists of 11 from Egypt, 6 from India, 4 from Pakistan and one from Sri Lanka were finally released from their captors Somali Pirates.
The Egyptian owned vessel owner refused to make any efforts or payment to pirates since last 11 months like other shipping companies pays the ransom to get release their employees. The families of captives were in horrible nightmare as several dead lines and life threats were issued by pirates. The Ship captain Mr. Wasi from Pakistan told to media (after his release) that Ship owners were dreaming that in case the ship is drowned by pirates as they generally does when ransom payment is not received, they would receive huge claim amount from insurers and they opted for such option to abondoned their ship crew at pirates mercy but Ship Captian Wasi convinced Pirates to allow him to speak with some friends in Pakistan who could arrange the ransom payment and his efforts with generous donations by local business community freed all of his crew for which he as Captain was firm to get released his entire crew regardless of different nationalities.
Some Indian politicians irresponcible statements and refusal to make their promised contribution in ransom payment at final hours made risks on lives of entire crew.
Karachi based Citizens Police Liason Committee led by Ansaar Barni a human rights activist took the intiative and made contacts with Indian government and Egyptian governments for collective efforts but both refuse to take any interest in release of their citizens who were even in majority. Both government officials and politicians made some irresponcible statements which put in danger the lives of all captives. Finally, Pakistani business community replied the appeal and collected entire 2.100 million dollars to get release all captives including 4 Pakistanis. This give another message to entire world how Pakistanis are generous regardless of race, color, nationality or religion for any noble cause.
I hope that Indian folks will say few words of appreciation about gesture from people of Pakistan in release of their citizens. Unfortunately, most of their comments are negative, hateful, baised and baseless in this message board.
The Hindoo baniya is dancing only temporarily, very temporarily
The ship of Pakistan has run into choppy waters, but this is temporary. Pakistanis and their ancestors have ruled India for a 1000 years and the Hindoo does know the kindness meted out them.
The Pakistani Subcontinent is bound to take back what is rightfully hers.
I may add the Pakistani ship has been run into the chop by the 60+ years of Hindoo baniya machinations; how can forget Junagarh, Manavader, Hyderabad Deccan, Kashmir and East Pakistan. Plus, of course, defeating the USSR some blowback. But, this is temporary and Pakistani Subcontinent is rising even whilst the Hindoo baniya is dancing naked in the street along with the necessary accompaniment of filth.
Aurangzeb Khan
lalqila.wordpress.com
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