Pakistan: The Perfect Scape-Goat For America's Failed War in Afghanistan

Pakistan: The Perfect Scape-Goat For America's Failed War in Afghanistan

Ties between America and Pakistan are constantly oscillating - so much so that Mirza Aslam Baig, former Pakistani Chief of Army Staff, believes the two countries could go to war in the near future.

America and Pakistan are supposed to be allies in the war on terror, but the two countries betray each other with repetitive regularity.

The last ten years have arguably been the worst in Pakistan's history. 30,000 have died as a consequence of the 'war on terror'. Furthermore, 311 suicide attacks have taken place in the last decade, according to Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar.

Within the last year, two events have had a significant impact on how the two countries view each other. First, Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor, was alleged to have shot two men in Lahore - causing a diplomatic frenzy between the two countries. Then, in May of this year, Osama bin Laden was found hiding in Abottobad - not far from a Pakistani military academy. America, inexorably, questioned whether the ISI were complicit in the hiding of bin Laden.

The most serious allegation in the past ten years came last week from Admiral Mike Mullen, America's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He accused the ISI (the best intelligence agency in the world according to Crime News, New York) of supporting the Haqqani group - a violent faction allied with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

But it is imperative to understand why Admiral Mike Mullen made these accusations. According to Mirza Baig, the context dates back to the jailbreak incident which occurred earlier this year. 480 Taliban members escaped from Sarpoza prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan. These same Taliban members, who dug their way out of jail, began to take revenge on the American army, killing 100 soldiers in one incident and wiping out an entire garrison.

While American soldiers are dying on a regular basis, the US media have been spewing incorrect propaganda about the 'success' in Afghanistan. This does not conform with reality on the ground, Baig says. The reality is that the US army is not in control: the Taliban are actually enjoying lots of success.

Many Americans are questioning why dead soldiers keep retuning home. The Obama administration, however, doesn't have any answers.

The greatest super-power in the world are staring defeat in the face and they need a scapegoat - General Baig says. And the Pakistani army are perfect to shoulder the blame on.

Furthermore public opinion in America is being skewed towards the idea that Pakistan deserves punishment. And to satiate the falsely developed public opinion in America, a launch attack against Pakistan is slowly being advanced.

If America do attack, Baig continues, it would be in Fata - a semi-autonomous tribal region where many Haqqani insurgents reside. However, if America decides to attack this region, it could send the Pakistani army on to war footing.

The Pakistani army has already been left humiliated by the US' unauthorized mission which killed bin Laden in Pakistan earlier this year. And if they were to attack Fata, General Baig believes that the Pakistani army, the Haqqanis and even the Afghan Taliban, would unite to fight America - 'the common enemy'.

How many of the 140,00 Americans troops in the region would return? "I can't tell you," General Baig says.

Pakistan has told the US that they risk losing an ally if they continue to accuse them of double standards. If Pakistan decides to cut ties with America - which may mean losing $2.7billion annually from US aid - it would end a decade of submission.

In an interview with a US television network in 2006, former President Pervez Musharraf narrated a conversation Pakistan's then-military intelligence chief had with Richard Armitage, the US deputy secretary of state, soon after 9/11.

Musharraf told the interviewer: "He [Richard Armitage] said, 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age'." This, of course, was an unequivocal threat informing the Pakistani government to support America's 'war on terror', or face the consequences.

Could Pakistan be ready to throw off the shackles placed on them by America? Not yet, it seems. Pakistan is a crisis-ridden state and the billions provided to them by America seems a sum too big to reject.

Pakistan - with a population of 180 million - half the size of the entire arab world, has not just been suffering on the political and religious front. The 2010 floods, the worst humanitarian disaster in modern history, devastated the country. Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), described the disaster as: "worse than the tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the Haiti earthquake."

One year later, having barely recovered, Pakistan have been hit with more floods, washing away 1.2 million homes and putting a further 2 million children at risk - according to the UN children's fund. The $2.7 billion is dearly needed - although many would accuse the elite of pocketing much of it.

Imran Khan, the Pakistani politician, said this week on ARY Digital that instead of going to war "Pakistan should facilitate America's exit strategy from Afghanistan." But if things do get rough between the two countries, Pakistan should "cut all supply lines" so that America can no longer use Pakistan as a hub to supply the US army in Afghanistan. But will the two countries go to war? Khan doesn't think so. The leaders in Pakistan are "slaves" of America - according to Khan, and America are too reliant on Pakistan to continue fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

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