Musharraf milking US through terrorism threat: Haqqani

By Rana Fawad

WASHINGTON: It is in Musharraf’s interest to keep propping up the Islamists threat to milk the US for more and more aid otherwise in a free and fair election the people of Pakistan would vote either for Ms Bhutto’s left-wing People’s Party or Nawaz Sharif’s right-wing Muslim League.

This was commented by Husain Haqqani, Associate Professor of International Relations at Boston University, during a discussion titled “The Crisis in Pakistan and American Policy” held under the auspices of a Washington-based think-tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI) on Wednesday. Other discussants included Thomas Donnelly (AEI), Danielle Pletka (AEI), and Michael O'Hanlon (Brookings Institute) while Frederick Kagan moderated the proceedings.

Haqqani pointed out that despite the massive doses of US aid, 65 million people living below the poverty line will not benefit because that assistance will only make the Pakistan military stronger.

Referring to the historical background of the Pakistani military’s relationship with the US, he told the audience, “In 1950s, the Pakistan military came to Washington and said we will be your critical allies in the cold war and you can have your bases in Pakistan. Then they wriggled out of this saying people don’t like the United States.”

He mentioned that during the war against Soviets the Pakistani military intelligence services again received a large amount of aid and we all know that a lot of that aid was diverted to the Pakistan military’s obsessive compulsion vis a vis India and that’s where the jihad became more significant.

Haqqani said before the anti-Soviet jihad, Pakistan’s society as a whole was a conservative, tribal, possibly feudal society. “But that doesn’t matter as far as the American policy is concerned,” he said and added, “Our purpose should not be or the US policy should not be about feudalism and tribalism. The societies evolve themselves like India has evolved pretty well with difficulties with its society’s complications.”

He opined that the Pakistani society could have evolved, too, but a lot of people in Washington since the 1950s have thought the Pakistan’s military as Pakistan’s savior. Haqqani added Musharraf, who actually says ‘I’m indispensable for Pakistan,’ has a serious savior complex and exaggerated ego.

Elaborating on the current crisis, he said that terrorism had increased in Pakistan and Ms Bhutto was the latest victim of the terrorism right in the heart of the garrison city of Rawalpindi, not very far from the General Headquarters of the Pakistani military.

Referring to the trust deficit President Pervez Musharraf is facing in the country, Haqqani asked if the people were not ready to trust his government with as simple a task as the investigation of the country’s most popular leader Benazir Bhutto, how come that government be trusted in dealing with the terrorist threat. He said the people suspect the government more than they suspect the terrorists. He added that he was not sure that suspicion was true or not but the mere fact that it exists, creates the problem.

He pointed out that the trust deficit is a problem because “Everybody in Pakistan who has disagreed with Pakistan’s military intelligence services at some point or another is being either arrested, jailed, imprisoned, tortured, blackmailed or repressed in some other ways.”

He commented that the opinion of civilian Pakistanis about the military intelligence complex cannot be the same as those of the visiting generals and intelligence officers who meet these guys in ornate meeting rooms.

Haqqani claimed that the number of terrorist deaths in Pakistan during 2006 was 1,471, while in 2005 the number was only 648 and now for 2007 the figure is something like 2,300. “So, if the proof of the pudding is in the eating, well, with due respect, this pudding doesn’t taste too well. Terrorism continues to increase with the quantum of eight being increased,” he said.

Talking about the reasons why is it happening, Haqqani explicated that the Pakistan’s military and intelligence services used the jihadis as a force multiplier in an attempt to compete with India. “That was the idea. So, the jihadi groups were essentially a means of trying to win Kashmir without actually going directly to war with India,” he added.

As for Afghanistan, Haqqani commented it was Pakistan’s backyard and Pakistan wanted Afghanistan for strategic depth. He said, the Taliban was a realpolitik and wasn’t an ideological move.

He said Musharraf considered the Taliban important for Pakistan, but after 9/11 he realized he didn’t want to have trouble with the US so he changed the paradigm somewhat but throughout 2002 and 2003 there was evidence that the Taliban were regrouping, and he himself pointed out in his articles at that time.

Haqqani pointed out that by 2005 the Taliban had regrouped and started becoming a problem for Afghanistan and they were attacking the Pakistani army as well. He said the problem would exist unless the Pakistani army decided to shut down all the jihadi operations that Pakistan itself had supported.
(To be continued)