US –Pakistan Relations
Donald Trump, the US
President, has once again
thundered at Pakistan leaders. He
was blunt in his rebuke, when he
said: Everyone in Pakistan knew
that Osama Bin Laden was in
Pakistan before his death. US gave
Pakistan $1.3 billion a year. But
Pakistan leaders did not tell the US
leaders about his whereabouts. US
paid enough money to Pakistan.
But they have done nothing to end
Taliban menace in Afghanistan. “I
ended the security aid of $ 1.66
billion to Pakistan, because they
did not do a damn thing for us.”
The US announced a so called
new Afghan policy in August 2018.
In September 2018, the US
threatened to cancel the security
aid of $300 million to Pakistan.
Since then, Trump went on openly
rebuking the leaders of Pakistan.
True, this kind of open
admonition would ‘hurt’ even the
comprador leaders. So, Imran
Khan the new Pakistan Prime
Minister reacted to them. He
pleaded that Pakistan had borne
the brunt of the US war on
terrorism. Pakistan was not
involved in 9/11 (fall of US Towers)
but it decided to participate in US
war on Taliban. “Pakistan suffered
75,000 casualties in this war and
over $1.23 billion was lost in
economy. US “aid” was a miniscule
$20 billion.” “Our tribal areas were
devastated and millions of people
uprooted from their homes. The
war drastically impacted lives of
ordinary people.” “Instead of
making Pakistan a scapegoat for
their failure, the US should do
serious assessment of why despite
1,40,000 NATO troops plus
2,50,000 Afghan troops and
reportedly $1 trillion spent on the
war in Afghanistan, the Taliban
today are stronger than before.”
Certain things come out from
the rebuke as well as the pleadings
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Blowing Hot and Cold
of two leaders. Both agree that
nearly two decades long war of
invasion and occupation by a big
power like US and its NATO allies
had miserably failed in crushing
Taliban in Afghanistan. So called
fight against terrorism – the name
given by US to its war against
Afghanistan – was a fraud played
upon the world people. In reality, it
was an unjust and oppressive war
by a big power aspiring to
subjugate or colonise a small and
weak country and people. Taliban
could withstand the imperialist
onslaught, wage a battle for long
time and emerge as a formidable
force with vast territories and
nearly half of Afghan population
under their control only because
they were waging a just war and
are backed by the Afghan people.
Curiously, the US imperialists are
now in a negotiation process with
Taliban whom they depicted as a
most dangerous ghost of terrorism
which only deserved to be crushed.
The pleadings of Pakistan
leaders do not reflect the reali-
zation that they assisted an unjust
war. They complain that their
services are not being adequately
recognized by the US leaders and
they are being unreasonably
blamed for the failure in the war
against the Afghan people. It is only
insulting for the people of Pakistan.
The US has some other reason
for its open rebuke of Pakistan
leaders. For some time, Pakistan
rulers are focusing more on
developing economic and military
relations with China, without, of
course, snapping their subservient
relations with US. This is a
disturbing event for US because, it
fears, it may lead eventually to lose
important strategic ally. How to stop
this drift is a matter of worry for the
US leaders. The US also appre-
hends that it may further
complicate the handling of Afghan
crisis and Taliban. So, US is left with
no alternative but to use “stick”
more at times without abandoning
the “carrot” to deal with the
situation and set the things right in
Pakistan.
What the Pakistan leaders
need to do is not to beg the US not
to underplay their services and
sacrifices for US in its war of
invasion and occupation against
Afghanistan. The need is not to
beg the US to remain reasonable
in deciding the causes for the
failure in suppressing Taliban. The
need is to admit the fact that the
US and its NATO allies marched
their troops into Afghanistan to
wage an unjust war to subjugate a
small and weak country and people
by force. The Pakistan leaders,
owing to their shameless
subservience to imperialism, opted
to place Pakistan’s territories and
resources at the disposal of US and
served as its mercenaries and
commission agents. Acting against
the wishes of the Pakistani people,
the leaders of Pakistan had
dragged them into a nasty and
oppressive war against the people
of a small neighboring country.
Correct and the only way for the
Pakistani leaders is rectify this
grave crime is to renounce and
break Pakistan’s bondage of
subservience with imperialism and
do whatever they can to help the
Afghan people in getting rid of the
US invasion and breath the air of
freedom.
For long, the US imperialists
had been using the disputes
between Pakistan and India to
stoke tensions, hostilities, clashes,
wars, no war-no peace situations
between the two countries. The
ruling classes of both countries,
who are in subservient relationship
with the imperialists have joined this
game instead of
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Class Struggle