The Washington Post’s story about stiff resistance being put up by COAS General Kayani to the American “entreaties” for launching a ground operation in North Waziristan is welcome news, for which he deserves the nation’s highest acclaim. The US might perceive the Agency as a source of recruitment for Afghan resistance or the Pashtuns living there providing safe havens to the militants fighting against it in Afghanistan, but for Pakistan that’s quite a different kettle of fish. The North Waziristanis are our own nationals, and any military action against them has to be well grounded on the reality of the situation and the threat the situation poses to our over-all security. For the US, however, it is only the anxiety to make a quick and honourable exit from the all-devouring slough that, it has learnt with a painful lesson, Afghanistan has turned out to be. Thus, the General’s conclusion, underlining the ‘gap between short-term US concerns and Pakistan’s long-term interests’.
As a ‘strategic ally’ of Pakistan, the US should not be feeling vexed at his defence of its national interests; rather, it must appreciate his attitude and help achieve the objective.But the truth is that the US is only our strategic ally in name; in substance, its long-term interests, which should be in accord with those of such an ally, are instead at variance. It has cast its lot with India, which has unequivocally demonstrated its enmity towards Pakistan. Whether by stalling the Kashmir dispute’s solution, depriving us of our rightful share of water, or fomenting trouble in Balochistan and FATA, it has left no one in doubt about the end purpose of these hostile adventures. Yet, Washington appears to be blind to the brutalities the people of Kashmir have to bear at the hands of its security forces and the open reneging of its commitments to hold a plebiscite under UN-auspices. Left to the US, it would not hesitate getting India a permanent seat at the UN Security Council. It has already defied international law by agreeing to provide nuclear technology to India that would ultimately go to boost its killer arsenal – Nation
