Dr. Umar Khan
Dr. Khan belongs to a Lahore based Think Tank.
13-4-18
Trump’s tweet, victim of his own success
"I think the greatest single
enemy is the misuse of information, the perversion of truth in the hands of
terribly skillful people.” John
le Carré
In the
early hours of first January 2018 after a lavish new year party US President
Donald Trump tweeted,
“The United
States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over
the last 15 years, and they
have given us nothing but lies and deceit, thinking our leaders as fools. They
give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No
more!”
He has been
conducting foreign policy through Tweets for quite some time but this was
unique in his peculiar ways too. Although American officials have been
criticizing and blaming Pakistan for the setbacks in the Afghan war this was a
very hard worded message diplomatically that also coming from the very top,
from the person sitting on the most lethal arsenal world has ever known.
This Tweet
naturally caused commotions in Pakistan and tumults in the US establishment
too.
This message
conveys three messages,
- US has paid a lot to Pakistan.
- Pakistan has cheated and harmed the US interests.
- US state apparatus is simple to the extent of naiveté
falling into the Pakistani trap.
This appears to
be the prevalent narrative in the US carefully built up by the enormous media
power it controls but it is far from truth and reality. Such propagandas are
for the consumption of ordinary people while those at the helm of affairs are
well aware of the reality but the nonpolitical background and superficial
knowledge of Trump made him believe it and fall in the pit his men dug.
Let’s see the
complete picture of Pakistan and USs transactional relations since its
creation,
Immediately
after independence a tirade against communists was launched and leftists like
Sahir Ludhianvi were harassed to the extent that they left the country. It was
done on American pressure.
In the fifties Pakistan
joined SEATO and CENTO against Soviet Union on American advise.
Pakistan gave
bases to US and earned the wrath of the second superpower the USSR which caused
its dismemberment a decade later.
Pakistan helped
build Sino US relations in early seventies, a major diplomatic victory for US that
put its rival USSR under tremendous pressure.
In eighties
Pakistan played a major role in the Afghan war which helped end the cold war
with US becoming the sole superpower. World saw a miracle where a war between
superpowers was won without a single casualty of the victor costing less than $
6 Billion.
After 2001
Pakistan gave bases to US, allowed it to use its infra-structure and fought
with people fighting the occupation.
The cost of
this lackeyism shown by Pakistan has been enormous. It has affected financial,
social and political fabric of the country. Let’s enumerate a few,
From the very
beginning Pakistan became a target for the USSR and Premier Khrushchev categorically
said that he has marked it with red.
It became
center of undercover activities of different intelligence agencies.
Democracy got
derailed and Pakistan suffered repeated martial laws, all supported by US.
A peaceful
country became hotbed of extremism.
Arms and
ammunitions reached in large numbers.
Narcotics and
drugs entered the society and Pakistan had one of the highest numbers of
addicts.
Tolerance in
society became a casualty and violence prevailed.
More than 85000
people died in these wars.
As no economy
can flourish in war and uncertainty, Pakistan suffered badly economically.
While the world was focusing on economy and growth we were discussing wars.
According to
most economists Pakistan’s economic loss has been of over $100 Billion for supporting
the US in its latest war in Afghanistan not to mention the previous ventures.
In return what
has US done for Pakistan?
According to Pres.
Trump it paid 33 Billion in the last 15 years. Since creation of Pakistan it
received $ 67 Billion in today’s terms which for the immense services is not only
a good deal for US but a steal deal; a fabulous bargain at the expense of hapless
Pakistanis. Considering that US has spent over 700 B in Afghan war and over 2
Trillion in the banking crises, that amount starts appearing as peanuts especially
when you consider the cost incurred on Pakistan.
Media has attained the status in international power politics
what armies had enjoyed earlier and the near monopoly of US on opinion can be a
major cause of national delusions. Premier Khrushchev once told Pres. Kennedy
that US has nothing to worry while it has Hollywood, referring to the power of
media and American dominance. Although apparently the media is independent but
actually very tightly controlled through different subtle means. False rhetoric
repeated enough becomes reality. According to Gore Vidal, "The
corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the
Western world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely
from its media all objectivity - much less dissent." Only a misguided thankless
President could blame Pakistan for ingratitude.
It was this
power over the narrative that created the world’s most callous storyline over
nuclear bombings, “US saved lives by dropping nuclear bombs”. If dropping
nuclear bombs over civilians was a crime this explanation was also one.
One side of
story is always unfair and with the hold on media only American side of story
is known making look Americans meek and simpletons. It is this euphemistic
narrative that apart from fooling the common man has fooled even the President
who gave this statement while fully using Pakistan’s meager resources viciously.
The reality is
that the US has always used Pakistan ruthlessly for a pittance and later dumped
it shamelessly forcing it to deal with its complications. Pakistan was expected
to deal with the violent forces created by US alone after 1990, something whole
world with enormous resources is finding challenging.
It’s not all
America’s fault as they always get accomplices who for the privilege of getting
in power can harm their own country. Despite availability of criminal
collaborators US can’t shed all blame because leaving a door open might be
foolish but still doesn’t justify a break-in.
US has taken
unfair and callous advantage of Pakistan for too long and it is time it accepts
reality and starts correcting the problems bred by its actions. Fortunately
there are decent people in US who openly acknowledge it but somehow get
sidelined.
Let’s stop
calling these transactions as aid and call them what they are, Pakistan’s fee
for help and make them reasonable.
Finally let’s
stop aids and encourage trade which creates a much healthier and productive
society whereas mostly aids create cheats in third world who take the money
back to donor countries.
History has
shown that whenever a superpower is unable to get the desired results in a war
it looks for scapegoats. Brutal bombings of Cambodia and Laos are testament to
the ruthlessness world powers are capable of. Let’s hope it’s not Pakistan this
time.
I would like to
end it with a piece of advice by Harold Pinter in his Nobel lecture of 2005,
"The
crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious,
remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to
hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power
worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant,
even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis."
