U.S.-Pakistan Policy after Bhutto
After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the one individual seemingly capable of ensuring a course correction in Pakistan, U.S. policy elites need to determine the direction for U.S.-Pakistan relations in a post-Bhutto world. While British Foreign Secretary Miliband is correct in noting that the “assassination lays bare the responsibilities of the politicians, community and faith leaders, businesspeople and military chiefs who will now be key to Pakistan’s future,” he is also correct in noting that the likes of the U.K. and the U.S. need to continue “to engage to back strong systems not just strong people.”
I agree with Mr. Miliband and believe that the appropriate U.S. approach over the short term should be three fold:
First, it should urge Mr. Musharraf to agree to a UN Security Council sponsored special investigation into the death of Benazir Bhutto. Detlev Mehlis, the former Commissioner of the UN International Independent Investigation Commission into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, would be a suitable candidate if partnered with a prominent Pakistani lawyer such as Mohammad Yaqoob Khan (the President District Bar Association Lakki Marwat North West Frontier Province). This is necessary to ensure that the Pakistani people can begin to regain faith in their institutions and government.
Second, the U.S. should form a contact group with the U.K. and the office of the UN Secretary General. This group should announce that its objective is to assist Pakistan with a smooth and rapid transition to democracy and to that end it will meet regularly with Mr. Musharraf and senior opposition figures such as Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan and potential Pakistani People’s Party leaders such as Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan (who currently serves as the president of the Pakistani Supreme Court Bar Association).
Third, the U.S. should commit to both bridging economic assistance for Pakistan and to a far larger block of economic funds that will be delivered after a democratic government takes office. This second block of funds should be used to support the strengthening of Pakistani institutions such as a modern education system and a Parliamentary oversight system capable of supervising entities such as the Pakistani intelligence apparatus (the Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI).
These short term moves will start to reshape the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, and more significantly will begin the critically important process of ensuring that Pakistan moves away from Talibanization and towards its founding roots as a member of the democratic community of nations.
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The British and the Americans have their own agenda in the region, to subvert and control Russian influence, to stop India from becoming too powerfull and to extend their tentacles into the oil rich central Asia. To achieve this, they have a long term secret understanding with China. And in the short term Pakistan is their useful tool to further their interests in the region. Pakistan has been willingly carrying out the dirty works of the west as long as they are paid in unaccounted billions, which the US has provided without bothering about the end use. The US, Pakistan and the whole world knows that the billions go into funding the terrorist activities aimed primarily at India, and Russia, but that is not an issue as long as the US and Britain remains unaffected to a large extent. Their involvement in Pakistan and war with the Islamic terrorism is an attempt in engineering the tide of Islamic terror away from themselves, towards Russia (Chechnia), India ( Kashmir ) through dirty deals and diplomatic manouvering of Taliban and Al Qaeda, and it is where Pakistan becomes indispensable for Britain and the US !
Pakistani rulers are aware of this weakness of the western powers and are milking them away, without actually delivering. Musharraff has validated this theory with his half hearted actions against terrorisrs, which was never followed up with concrete action, to conclusion ! Zia Ul Haq did the same, as they know quite well that the issue of terrorism is a cash cow, which must continue to be there in order for the Pakistanis to milk billions out of the west !
Here comes the need for democracy and Benazir in Pakistan politics ! The US injected Banazir into Pakistani politics, against the wishes of Musharraff, in order to play her against Musharraff, over whom they have no control what so ever ! Benazir was important to the western powers, not for furthering the cause of demopcracy, but to have a kind of leverage against Musharraf ! That option has been taken away by the ISI !!
Now they are left with no options but to support the moderate sections of Pakistani politics, in order to show the whole world that they are staying away from the Musharraf regime, atleast on the surface! But it is going to be a long haul for Britain and the US to be able to have any meaningful control over Musharraf, or whosoever from the Military that would would replace Musharraf !
Britain and the US are stuck in a quagmire of their own creation and there is no easy escape from that !!
How many years and how many more billions would go into the mess, only time can tell !!
Sincerely,
Comment on December 31, 2007 @ 5:51 pm
In practice, I wonder whether backing democratic institutions and a democratic government in Pakistan will mean continuing to support the PPP, as the best-organized (and now by far the most public) opposition party. If so, I think it’s problematic that the PPP leadership has consented to placing Benazir’s 19-year-old son and husband in charge of the party. It’s more than obvious that these two are not the most able candidates for the job. If transparency and democracy are to take root in Pakistani government, shouldn’t they also be prized in Pakistani politics?
Comment on January 2, 2008 @ 11:52 am