World Affairs
Pakistan must End Subservient Relationship with US
For some time, America is
not happy with the Pakistan rulers.
It can be seen in what US President
Trump has recently complained:
“The US has foolishly given
Pakistan more than 33 billion
dollars in aid over the last 15 years,
and they have given us nothing but
lies & deceit, thinking of our
leaders as fools. They give safe
haven to the terrorists we hunt in
Afghanistan, with little help. No
more.” In the first week of Jan
2018, the US has suspended
most of its security assistance to
Pakistan until it “takes decisive
action against the groups,
including the Afghan Taliban and
the Haqqani Network.”
We need to go deep into the
US – Pakistan relations to
understand this development.
Many governments had come
and gone in Pakistan in the last
seven decades. However, the
ruling classes here were always
subservient to imperialist powers
in general and US in particular.
Pakistan remained a major non-
NATO US partner. It extended all
its services to the US in its policy
of domination in the region. It
helped the US imperialism in
creating the Islamic terrorist
groups and using them in the
interests of US. The entire world
knows that in 1980s the Pakistani
rulers acted as the main tool of US
imperialism in organising
Mujahedeen in Afghanistan to
overthrow the Soviet – backed
government in Kabul. Again, the
Pakistani rulers did not hesitate to
extend their services to the US
imperialists when they unleashed
February - 2018
a war of invasion against
Afghanistan in 2001. The 16 – year
old Afghan war has claimed the
lives of tens of thousands of
innocent Afghan people and forced
millions to flee their homes. In their
shameless attempt to serve the
US in its war of invasion against
the Afghanistan, the Pakistani
rulers had allowed the US to freely
use the Pakistan territories,
transport systems and resources.
Much against the wishes and
protests of Pakistani people, they
remained silent when the US was
dropping bombs and carrying on
drone attacks right inside the
Pakistan in the name of wiping out
the Taliban and their safe havens.
By agreeing to play this kind of
role, the Pakistani rulers had placed
themselves in a totally unequal and
subservient relationship with the
US.
This is one part of the story.
Another part is the US imperialists
have a larger strategic aim of
imposing their domination over the
entire Asia – Pacific region.
Isolating and encircling China has
become an important part of this
strategy as US considers China
as a potential hurdle on its way to
realise its aim. The US had taken
series of moves to give a shape
to an US led strategic alliance of
US, Japan and Australia. It roped
the Indian rulers into this alliance
with a view to use India’s vast
territories and resources to push
through its politics of domination.
In its strategy, the US has singled
out India for special attention. On
their part, the Indian rulers have
thrown open India’s ports, military
bases to US warplanes and battle
ships; share intelligence with the
Pentagon about Chinese ships
and submarines in the Indian
Ocean and parrot the provocative
US stances on the South China
Sea dispute and even North Korea.
The relations between the US
and India have developed to a new
level in Trump’s period. In October
2017, the US State secretary Rex
Tillerson said: “our relationship
with India is .... of strategic
importance, not for this specific
region,” but for “a free and open
Indo-Pacific region stretching all
the way from Japan to India.” The
US gave priority to drawing India
into the US led US – Japan –
Australia strategic –military
partnership, called “Quad” - a chief
tool for US to pursue its politics of
domination in the Asia – Pacific
region. The Pakistani rulers view
the fast developing strategic
relations between US and India
with serious concern.
Pakistani rulers chose to
enhanc e their relations further with
neighbouring China which has
come up as a powerful and
prominent power in the Asia –
Pacific region. They joined the 57
billion dollar China – Pakistan
Economic Corridor (CPEC) which
aims at building transportation
infrastructure between China and
Pakistan. This project connects
China to the Arabian Sea port of
Gwadar. The CPEC is a part of
China’s more comprehensive
One Belt, One Road (OBOR)
strategy which seeks to expand
China’s economic ties to Europe,
the Middle East and Africa.
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