The following is a guest contribution. Reuters is not responsible for the content and the views expressed are the author’s alone. The writer is a commentator on South Asian political and military affairs and author of “A History of the Pakistan Army”.
By Brian Cloughley
The trouble with the contest to become president of the United States is that it affects us all. No matter how appalled we might be about machine politics of a foreign presidential election, driven and at the mercy of money supplied by staggeringly powerful business interests, the bottom line (literally and figuratively) is that the entire world feels (and sometimes reels from) the influence of the US President. For the past seven years we have witnessed and been gravely affected by economic mismanagement; insolent and malevolent disdain for those who object to “You’re with us or against us”; and an arrogant policy of global military domination to an extent never even dreamed of by the Caesars, Genghis Khan, Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler or Stalin.
It might have been hoped that in November this year the American people would elect a man or woman for all peoples. A person with vision, compassion, a deep knowledge of the world that America dominates, and, above all, that most important of human attributes: informed Common Sense.
It is not to be so.
Leaving aside Senator McCain, who may well be elected in spite of his manifold deficiencies and war service that focussed on bombing cities in North Vietnam (OK, so I served in Vietnam ; but at least I realise I was wrong), I had hoped that Senator Obama - young, intelligent, seemingly forthright, in tune with the modern age - would be elected. But on reading his recent speech I am in despair on many accounts, and particularly concerning his proposed policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
If he is elected, Pakistan should shudder. And Afghanistan should despair.
Senator Obama’s foreign policy advisers and slick speechwriters had him say that “The greatest threat to our security lies in the tribal regions of Pakistan, where terrorists train and insurgents strike into Afghanistan. We cannot tolerate a terrorist sanctuary, and as president I won’t … We must make it clear that if Pakistan cannot or will not act, we will take out high level terrorist targets like bin Laden if we have them in our sights.”
The threat could not be more blunt: if the government of Pakistan does not give permission for US forces to conduct offensive operations inside Pakistan (which it can’t: what government of any nation could do that and retain the support, the respect, the loyalty of its people?), then the US will strike inside Pakistan no matter how much the democratically elected government might protest. In fact, this option is on the cards right now, anyway, and Senator Obama is merely echoing current Bush feelings.
So Senator Obama would continue Bush policy to send US troops and strike aircraft and missile-firing drones (”We need more Predator drones on the Afghan border region,” he declared) to attack US-identified targets in the territory of a friendly nation. He says “We must expect more of the Pakistani government”; but how much more does he want? His country has already killed scores of civilians in Pakistan in the past two years by having drone-launched missiles blast villages in which US-recruited Pushtun-origin agents, Afghan and Pakistan citizens, picked out what Senator Obama calls “high level terrorist targets” and sent information to their controllers in Bagram or Islamabad (and elsewhere that I won’t mention) by their amazingly technically advanced communications devices. But it is ironic, as well as morally appalling, that the villagers in Pakistan who were killed in the Predator-guided missile attacks - these slaughtered women and children - died because the target information that led to their massacre was incorrect. (And unfortunately for these pawns of the US, who were well-paid and inserted by ingenious means into the tribal areas on both sides of the border, many were identified and killed in the most disgusting manner. But their families in the US and elsewhere have been fairly generously recompensed, which may be some consolation.)
Further to that comparatively minor slaughter (after all, what’s the death of a few innocent villagers, here and there?) has Senator Obama any notion of how many soldiers of the Pakistan army and the Frontier Corps have been killed in combating militants who were driven into Pakistan by the US invasion of Afghanistan, or who were turned to militancy by these unwelcome refugees? Does he know that well over a thousand grieving families of the army and the Frontier Corps have suffered the loss of sons, husbands, fathers and brothers because the US army is incapable of securing its side of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border?
Of course not: because his speechwriters concentrate only on the sharp, US-centric aspects of international affairs. They care nothing about the sacrifices of Pakistan in this US-created conflict. He doesn’t know that Pakistan has been host to millions of Afghan refugees for decades. (No other country in the world has been forced to look after so many refugees for so long - a horrible global record, which is hardly the fault of Pakistan.)
And if any talk-show interviewer asked Senator Obama “How many Afghan refugees remain in Pakistan” he wouldn’t have a clue what was being talked about. The fact that over a million Afghans are still in Pakistan and don’t want to go back to their own country because it is in a state of ungovernable chaos is neither here nor there to the presidential candidate, or to most of the world, in fact. Doesn’t it dawn on anyone that in that million (about 1.3 million, according to the UN) Afghans in Pakistan there are many who have reason to detest the present regime in Kabul and who want to get rid of it by fair means or preferably foul?
Let’s have no nonsense about the Pakistan government failing to do “more” about the Pakistan-Afghan border. Islamabad proposed that a barrier be built, and actually provided a detailed scheme for it. I attended a briefing by the former foreign minister of Pakistan at which he described it in detail. (Although I did not agree at all with the proposal to plant anti-personnel mines. I’ve seen too much of the effects of Soviet mines on Afghan children - the shattered legs and hands, the total destruction of youthful aspirations - to ever imagine that mines are anything but evil. OK, so I used them - Claymore mines - when in ambush in Borneo when we were fighting the Indonesians who wanted to take over Malaysia, decades ago; but I’ve changed my mind, having visited hospitals full of Afghan kids who have had their arms or legs blown off.) Predictably, however, the Kabul government vetoed the project, although a few miles of fences were eventually erected in spite of that stupid objection, which was entirely to do with Afghanistan’s insular objection to the well-established legality of the border.
But if America can’t secure its own border with Mexico, in spite of annual expenditure of billions of dollars in security measures, how can it expect Pakistan to seal its frontier with Afghanistan? Half a million illegal immigrants cross from Mexico into the US each year, including criminals of all natures, and, no doubt, some terrorists intent on mayhem in America. Yet Washington - and Senator Obama - make the demand that Pakistan stop all the militants and drug smugglers who want to move to and from their areas of operation.
How fatuous.
Senator Obama declares that “The greatest threat to our security lies in the tribal regions of Pakistan.” No it doesn’t: it lies in the ignorance of those who fail to understand the problem.
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Brian….just want to know….have you ever heard of…Osama Bin laden…..Mullah Omar…..Ayman Al Zawahri…..ISI….A Q Khan…..Nuclear proliferation….Daniel Pearl……Sheikh Mohammed…..Taliban blowing Budhaas…..Madrasas…..Wahabism…..do you see any connection….
- Posted by BijanVery sorry to read the above article regarding Obhama threat to the soverginty of a Independent country Pakistan, if Mr.Obahma knows the history of this region, at he time of invation of USSR, this the amercain dollars which spent to fight agaisnt the USSR by the same Jahdy Lashkar these are the young muslim who were recorated from all over the muslim countries to fight for USA. noow the same so called tarist group who are now fighting against USA and Europe, Pakistan get nothing but spread of voilance in the country, heroan culture was came during the time of ussr conflict, also pakistan has to feed more than 15 million Afghanies in pakistan towns what else, Mr.Popit present of Afghanistan who was take dhilyrt in Quetta, even his family lived for long time when he was a president of Afghanistan, they should be tahnkful to pakistan we are providing their basic needs such as food pertrol, and other neciecites. still there arfe million of refuges living in pakistan, if Govt thru them in afganstan then what will be happend, Other thing these Western countries take such a stupid steps to attack pakistan border area than there will be a very huge protest against USA not even from Pakistan but also whole Muslim world will on pakistan side. So fefbore taking any such step Mr.Obma and comapny thing many time the reaction and a war between Muslim and Christen will start.
- Posted by hafeez khanPAkistan should in its own interest give back power to Balochistan,NWFP and maybe even sindhi people.
Come on!You keep asking for a referendum on Kashmir,Charity begins at home!:):)
Pak economy facts:
Industrial growth:3.2%
Inflation:21%
Food inflation:26%
Exchange rate 1USD:74.5PKR
I am not sure you can afford much more of this,I suggest a partial devolution of powers to balochistan and NWFP.
I am not certain how much your begging S Arabia and China will save you,I hear they deffered payments on oil good good but why aren’t things improving ?
- Posted by Shantanu Chatterjeei lived all my life in peshawar border city of pakistan, all ican say of my experience is that there is a bit of truth that all the aid pakistani govt. got for afghan refugee wasn’t spent on refugees but what afghan brought with them to pakistan was and is heroin, robbers, thieves and many other crimes. they looted the local peoples, stolen the vehicles and later took them across border, some even killed innocent people for money. so you can not blame pakistan govt. for all that.
- Posted by ahmedKABURA
- Posted by UMPKDurand Line IS the BORDER. Pakistan Army will keep you at bay. Dont run away fromreality, Durand line is reality.
Kabura
- Posted by DalitYour comment above is a heap of crap. Shut the F*** up and mind your own business. The Red Army didnt give any time to the fleeing Afghan refugees to collect their Gold and silver and Cash to take with them to Pakistan. Most were poor and Pakistan still did whatever was posible to accomodate them .
Infact the herione and Klashnikov are the gifts of Soviest intervention in Afghanistan that Pakistan got.
So dont post heaps of crap, comments void of reason empty in substance.
Thank you Kabura!
Your comment just made this article worth reading.
Both points of view presented are worthy of attention, though Mr. Cloughley does seem much too biased.
Everyone has a bias though.
What, Mr. Cloughley, should be done then?
You aknowledge that it is not possible for Pakistan to simply close its borders with Afghanistan. This is true and a very valid point.
I firmly believe that there are no governments on Earth that are free from corruption either. No one could honestly believe that all of the Afghani (do I have that spelled right? I dunno) refugees coming into Pakistan were welcomed with open arms. Of course many were taken advantage of, sadly it almost seems like human nature to care more about ones self than the welfare of others.
True, some are better at it than others.
The problem is that the problem is already there.
There are terrorists and militants in Pakistan as there are terrorists and militants in Afghanistan. Meaning that there are people in both countries who are planning on and currently carrying out attacks on our troops stationed in Afghanistan.
I don’t believe the answer lies in the use of any kind of indiscriminate weapons. There are bound to be people who would provide false or misleading intel for whatever reasons.
I can’t deny that the US has played a major role in the destabalization of the region, though the blame does not fall entirely on our shoulders.
As Kabura mentioned, Afghanistan has had a lot of crap to deal with these last 30 years. I personally don’t know how the people in the country can do it day to day with what I know of the conditions thay have to deal with. I admit that I don’t know much, but I am open to find out as much as I can in order to have an informed opinion (as informed as possible anyway).
Mr. Cloughley sure seems angry though, can’t hide that with they way this article was written. I admit I am quite angry too.
However it all comes down to this: If you were the commander in chief of the USA, what would you do to fix the problem. You can’t be suggesting that either Mccain or Obama caused the problem we have to face there, that would be ridiculous.
- Posted by ByronShould we just leave Pakistan to deal with the problem themselves?
What if we send more troops to Afghanistan?
Will they be met with all the forces of opposition that exist there? Will those forces just retreat into the relatively safer Pakistan? Will they move to Iraq or the moon? who knows for sure, but I sure hope that whoever becomes the next president at least has the courage to listen to different points of view and attempt to make the best choices. There will be more bloodshed though, that can’t be denied.
Since the so called “war against terrorism” started Pakistan has been an allie of the US and despite the unfovourable response from the Pakistani public the Pakistani government still back the US against and has given full support to the US and this how the US government repays the Pakistanis. How can the Pakistani public not hate the American government and its policies?
- Posted by AliThis is a well-written and informative piece.
Thank you, Mr. Brian Cloughley.
- Posted by Zahed yaqubMr. Cloughley, Your article is well written and you have hit the nail on the head. Pakistan is desperately fighting America’s war and in the process has lost its own identity. The U.S has never tried to understand the tribal area’s or the culture that exists there. You can not expect to bomb the whole tribal region and claim victory. The extremists in those regions have no desire to co-operate with any foreign forces. There history is filled with war and bloodshed starting with the British rule . The U.S should learn from the failed Soviet war in Afghanistan . If the U.S doesn’t wish to return with its tail between its legs it should wake up to the ground realities.
- Posted by Martina BaggaleyBrian article might not be perfect but it still deserves better comments than the emotional outburst of some readers.The fact is that Presidential candidates in U.S should also read history of region for last twenty years.The 3 million Afghan refugees that entered Pakistan in 1979 did not come on Pakistan’s request.Just imagine what would have happened if they were not allowed to enter Pakistan ?.Where would they have taken their Cash & Gold??Likewise it not Pakistan who brought Osama to Afghanistan.It was America and its CIA which brought these deadly killers & fanatics to this region.Who changed the syllabus of books in 1979 towards Jehad?It was not Pakistani people who did that.It was American supported dictator who did that.Likewise it was not Pakistan who attacked on 911.
Saying all that the fact remains that KARZAI is a puppet whose even personal security not managed by Afghans.Someone who has no control over warlords in Afghanistan ,who cannot control poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.Are the people in Pakistan stopping Karzai to control poppy cultivation in Afghanistan? Karzai is leading a failed government of a failed state.The easiest scapegoat for all the failures is to put all blame on Pakistan.The solution lies in setting up a broad based government in Afghanistan that looks after interests of all stakeholders.Only then peace can return to this poor country.
- Posted by Chengez KA decent article does good in informing on both sides how pakistan helped the ungrateful afghan refugees who most are terrorists by the way with the disguise of a refugee
- Posted by BilalAn interesting article bearing some measure of credit, but Mr. Cloughley should keep his drunken remorse to himself, namely, “OK, so I served in Vietnam; but at least I realise I was wrong.”
Have another Budweiser with Hanoi Jane if it makes you fell any better, Mr. Cloughley.
- Posted by US citizenI have 2 words for Kabura ( 1st commenter), 3 words for Brian and 4 for Reuters
- Posted by SkanKabura: “Well Said”
Brian: “Eat your words”
Reuters: “Hire Kabura next time”
[...] Brian Cloughley, author of A History of the Pakistan Army writes: I had hoped that Senator Obama - young, intelligent, seemingly forthright, in tune with the modern age - would be elected. But on reading his recent speech I am in despair on many accounts, and particularly concerning his proposed policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan. [...]
- Posted by cyrilalmeida.com » Blog Archive » The dark side of ObamaI am from Peshawar - a city which has hosted millions of Afghan refugees for three decades now. It was a very nice city untill the Afghanis moved in. Not only did they bring gold, but also herion, drugs and AK-47 into the Pakistan culture. Crime has been driven up due to Afghans, and Peshawar and Pakistan is creaking in general having hosted so many refugees.
You should be thankful to a country that has hosted you for three decades.
- Posted by AbubakrI am (not a terribly Patriotic ) Pakistani. But I am shocked beyond belief by the comments of the self-styled Afghan refugee who is criticizing Pakistan—the country which possibly saved his sorry ass from being consumed by Soviet napalm …
To just quote a few words
“I unwillingly ended up in Peshawar in the early eighties. I can swear to you that I as a young refugee didn’t receive a penny from the Paki govt.”
If “swearing” could have any value I would believe this person. He occupied Pakistan , a country which unlike Iran which refused Western aid and the now liberated central Asian republics on the Afghan border who sealed their borders to the Afghans and now he claims he did not receive a “penny” from the “Paki’ government. My suspicion is that the choice of vocabulary would place this wannabe refugee in the UK where “Pennies” are the currency and “Pakis” are generally to be frowned upon. But even this ungrateful parasite’s escape to the UK could only have come about not from Afghanistan but from Pakistan where he admits himself he lived off Pakistani tax-payers’ money and on which he fattened and educated himself.
Moreover the Afghan refugee claims
“The chronically corrupt govt of Pakistan stole up to 60% of the civilian/humanitarian and military aid intended for the Afghan refugees and the Mojahedin fighting the Soviets. I was a witness to this on many occasions”
It would be near-impossible for anyone to claim that aid given not just in a war-situation ( which Afghanistan in the ’80’s was) is delivered 100 % down to the intended recipients at the end of the chain in any third -world country whether it is aid from the World Bank or the USAID.
What is significant and notable is that the aid that reached this wannabe refugee and intruder “Paki”-hater kept him alive and alert to the fact that “60%” of it was being stolen. Obviously he does not describe how he was in a position to “witness” anything like that but at least Pakistan kept him alive to this day when he could propagate against Pakistan. That is right, is it not?
In this way this ungrateful refugee is in so many ways similar to the incumbent mayor of Kabul Mr Karzai, who too was an asylum-seeker in Pakistan until he was chosen to become a Pakistan-hating puppet by his masters.
The next thing the commentator claims is about Afghans bringing gold and “riches” to Pakistan when even before the Taurus revolution of 1979 the impoverished Afghan state hardly had enough gold to distribute to all of its citizens.
The only thing I ever saw Afghans bring across the Durand line since 1979 to the Pakistani side of the border was heroin and smuggling in illegal arms .
Lastly I do not understand the pointless unfair and harsh criticism of Mr Brian Coughley in the comment. Simply because Mr Coughley refused to follow the anti-Pakistan agenda which is so common nowadays from Obama to the ungrateful ex-Afghan-refugee-in-Landi-Kotal-camp, Karzai does not mean that he is biased towards Pakistan.
Mr Coughley is simply telling the reality as it is.
I am not surprised, however, seeing ingrates and hypocrites like the wannabe victim refugee who have fattened on Pakistan showing their “namak-harami” and their true colours behind the aonymity of the internet. I have seen its before from Hamid Karzai.
- Posted by Hindu KushMaybe this article was written by ISPR.
- Posted by vivekDegrades the quality of this blog.
Mr. Brian Cloughley: I do share some of your visions about the next U.S. president, who really is very important not only for America but the entire world, particularly weak and vulnerable states such as Pakistan and Afghanistan.
While I agree with you that Senator McCain is out of question, I reject your perceptions of Obama and particularly his understanding of the extremely dangerous and serious situation in Afghanistan and the Pakistani border region. I think for the first time, since the launch of the “war on terror” in 2001, there is a sound and clear realization about Pakistan’s false and destructive contribution in this regard. The American decision makers are wakening up to the bitter reality of their mistakes and non-alliance with the military dictatorship of Pakistan.
Pakistan has never done anything for free for anyone. For its “contribution and cooperation” in the war on terror it has received billions of dollars, military equipments (F16s, Cobra Helicopters…), generous economic and diplomatic support not only from the U.S. but the entire West and Arab states. But you still don’t want/refuse to see that and instead are willingly exaggerating about the “sacrifices” of Pakistan and related facts, as if Afghanistan has not suffered at all. Just imagine the sacrifices of Afghanistan against the Soviet. I can assure you that no nation would have survived after what the Afghans went through, not only during the Soviet war, but during the Paki puppets Taliban regime and the war on terror.
Like most Pakistanis, you too claim that Pakistan helped millions of Afghan refugees, whom you don’t have a clue about, I’m sure. After leaving the war against the Soviets, I unwillingly ended up in Peshawar in the early eighties. I can swear to you that I as a young refugee didn’t receive a penny from the Paki govt. But I payed bribes for every single signature in order to aquire necessary documents.
The chronically corrupt govt of Pakistan stole up to 60% of the civilian/humanitarian and military aid intended for the Afghan refugees and the Mojahedin fighting the Soviets. I was a witness to this on many occasions and I believe it can be confirmed by many international sources. In fact the flow of Afghan refugees to NWFP and FATA revitalized the dying economy of Pakistan. Afghans came with cash and gold to Pakistan. Many came with whatever saving they had in their lives. All that money and gold were spent in Pakistan, which benefited enormously from the influx of Afghan refugees. They could rent their very primitive housings to Afghan refugees for a price that a Pakistani could never afford. Similarly Pakistanis became rich on every aspect of Afghan refugees, who always were/are without any rights in Pakistan. The Afghan refugees in Pakistan are without any rights in that country.
You claim that the Durand Line issue is “legally” resolved, and I challenge you to prove that or hold your peace in this regard. I don’t think you have the capability or the necessary knowledge to discuss this issue, because you already have “made up your mind”.
You are allowed to be as pro-Paki as you want, but that won’t change the natural courses of events related to Pakistan’s present and future. And I’m not impressed by your journalism, because you are not objective in your analysis, even if “objectivity” can be a relative term.
- Posted by kaburaNo one asked Pakistan to support the U.S-Mujahideen resistance against Soviet Union. They are paying the price for that now.
They chose to become America’s client state by signing the Baghdad pact, just to have a powerful backing against India.
As for the fencing is concerned, Pakistan protested when India started fencing the LOC, there’s no reason why Afghanistan should do the same. FATA and NWFP belong to Afghanistan. Britain signed a 100 year lease with Afganistan and that lease ended in 1993.
- Posted by Raja