Pakistan: US Friend or Foe?

Presidents Karzai, Bush and Musharraf of Afghanistan, The United States and Pakistan - staunch allies in the 'War on Terror'.

The United States has allied itself with some nasty regimes in its War on Terror. Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan to name but two. It has also overthrown brutal governments in Afghanistan and Iraq in the name of the same war. This hypocrisy cannot be justified even in the context of the fight against terrorism as it simply breeds more resentment towards America in the Muslim world. Pakistan is another country in this duplicitous nexus of alliance and enmity with nefarious regimes in which the United States has become embroiled since 9/11. However it’s government is not held in the same disgust as some of America’s other unsavoury allies. This is platitude that should be challenged. The country is a dictatorship, has become involved in nuclear proliferation and is a hotbed of Islamic extremism, all of which are hardly qualities that the United Sates should seek in an ally.

General Pervez Musharraf seized power in Islamabad in 1999 amid much international condemnation, promising an end to endemic corruption and a swift return to civilian rule. Seven years later neither of these goals have been achieved. Corruption is still rife, especially in Musharraf’s military, and the dictator seems perfectly happy to remain in power indefinitely, merely holding elections to a parliament that he can dissolve at any time.

Meanwhile under the General’s rule, the father of Pakistan’s Nuclear weapons program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, purportedly without the support of the government, sold nuclear secrets to Libya, North Korea and possibly Iran. Musharraf pardoned him. Pakistan’s somewhat rogue intelligence agency the ISI’s support for Islamic militants attacking Indian forces in the disputed region of Kashmir almost brought the two nuclear armed countries to war. Additionally, the despicable Islamic Fundamentalist Taliban regime in Afghanistan enjoyed Musharraf’s full support as a stabilising influence on Pakistan’s troubled neighbour. This support lasted until 9/11 2001 when the previously condemned and ostracised dictator fortunes changed and he became a crucial ally in America’s War on Terror.

Pakistan was geographically and politically important to the US war in to oust the al-Qaida supporting Taliban regime in neighbouring Afghanistan. President Musharraf, once known to an ill-informed George W. Bush only as ‘the general’ when asked to name the leaders of Pakistan and India by a smartass journalist before his initial election; the leader of what the hilariously gaff-prone US president called the ’Pakis’, soon became very popular in Washington; attending summits and cosy get-togethers in Camp David. Musharraf’s contempt for democracy was swept under the carpet as he is portrayed as a moderate leader and a great friend to the West in its struggle with Islamic Terrorism.

However true this may be, Musharraf’s alliance with America is making him unpopular with the not insignificant radical Islamic population in Pakistan. The rise in Islamic fanaticism that has been the result of the US alliance with Pakistan has now perhaps made it very dangerous for democratic elections to be held as extremists would undoubtedly do very well in the current climate. Musharraf’s tenuous hold on has been constantly threatened by such extremists within the military and ISI, and the Islamic militants that stalk the western borders with Afghanistan and in Pakistani Kashmir. Lawless western Pakistan is now a sanctuary for the Taliban and al-Qaida, who use the region as a base to attack US and coalition forces in Afghanistan. This is ironically much like the US-backed Mujahideen from which these groups grew, used the area to attack the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Osama bin Laden himself if he is alive is thought to be hiding there. Some of Pakistan’s (Saudi-funded) Madrassas or Islamic schools radicalise their students and education tomorrow‘s terrorists. Indeed one of the perpetrators of the 7/7 attacks in London is known to have attended such a school for a number of months in Lahore. Perhaps the most vivid example of the rise in extremism and anti-Americanism in Pakistan occurred in the aftermath of last years horrendous earthquake. Reportedly US helicopters on route to help the victims were fired upon from the ground by militants.

All of this leads to the surreal events of last Friday when the United States bombed its own ally in an attempt to assassinate Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida’s second in command. Although this has not yet been confirmed, the attack has seemingly failed to killed its target but did cause the deaths of eighteen people, many of whom were women and children. This has understandably led to uproar in Pakistan, further fanning the flames of Islamic fundamentalism that are threatening to engulf the country.

President Musharraf is now in a difficult position. He has condemned the bombing and will surely tone down his support for America so as to appease the populace. He would do well to remember the fate of that other American ally and dictator, the Shah of Iran who was overthrown by Islamic fundamentalists in 1979. The United States should also learn from that episode. It is a cliché but it doesn't make it any less true that America must learn that support of autocrats and tyrants such as the Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussein, the Saud Dynasty, Karimov of Uzbekistan or even a ‘dictator-lite’ such as Musharraf will only store up problems for the future. The dilemma presented by Pakistan is that with growing Islamic extremism - in part due to the alliance - a reinstatement of democracy may soon prove to be just as dangerous.