I remember saying in the very first part of this series that there are no winners in the successive wars in this country. But I’ve since learnt that there was. Pakistan.
It appears Pakistan has mastered the art of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. I am not sure that is sufficiently illustrative of their deeds in the past and even now. For a more appropriate simile, I could cite the Tamil “pinching the baby and rocking the cradle”. Well, with some very clever foot work (that will do their cricketers proud), they’ve leveraged their geopolitical situation to their greatest advantage over the years. First, it was the Soviet Union arriving at their door step. And being friends of Americans, they got most everything they wanted in terms of military hardware and economic assistance in order to prevent the Russians from swamping their country and linking up with a Soviet friendly India. That the Afghans were fiercely resisting the Soviet presence helped in the process and the Mujaheddin elements were nursed across the border.
Knots of Arab warriors sponsored by Saudi Arabia and the gulf states worried at the arrival of communism in their back yard began causing no end of trouble to the Soviets. Uncle Sam was sitting back and was quite enjoying the discomfiture of the Russians, even as he was bankrolling the resistance with a benign ‘Buddha’ like smile on his face. Now the world knows that it was in these happy circumstances that Osama was born and was eagerly cradled by you know whom.
Millions of Afghans fled the country during the Soviet occupation, running away from areas of conflict and many of them landed in Pakistan (my Afghan colleague in my project spent as many as 18 years in Peshawar; I hope to come back to his story later). I thought Pakistan did well to open its borders to these refugees. But apparently it was not all milk of human kindness; the Afghans grumble that substantial amounts of aid through UNHCR and other agencies were milked by the Pakistanis. It may be an exaggeration but I’ve heard it said that only about 12 cents filtered down to the Afghan refugee out of every aid dollar. Perhaps this extreme calculation includes goods in kind stashed away as well. Whatever be the degree of this business of feathering its own nest, it has left the Pakistanis unloved by the majority in this country. Curiously though, Urdu seems to have escaped this general animosity. Many Afghans like the language.
Well, the Soviet Union left with many wounds but still managed to keep its puppets in power in Kabul. But given the intensity of opposition to its rule – both innate and engineered – it was only a matter of time before the whole thing folded up. And when Dr.Najibulla was eventually murdered, Pakistan’s ISI was everybody’s suspect. But that story is a little complicated involving Pakistan’s quest for continued possession of a swathe of Afghan territory all along the present border. Students of British Indian history will know more about from the key phrase “Durand Line”.
In the meanwhile Kabul was getting battered and bruised with pitched battles, heavy bombardments and rocket attacks as the warlords grouped and regrouped. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar emerged as a thorn in the side of the Mujjaheddin government, Dostum changed sides to support him while Masood was trying to prop up the government. Violence and strife in the city (Ps.55:9) were the order of the day; day after day. Though the passage of time has obliterated some of the evidence, you can still see buildings here straight out of a war movie – in ruins.
Then came the Taliban with their fiercely Islamic message that appealed to the Mullahs across the border. The Pakistanis were quick to see the advantages of supporting the Taliban with a view to ensuring continued unrest in the country. In all of these moves they were marching in step with the Americans, ensuring in the process the flow of goodies to themselves. But 9 / 11 turned things around drastically. And the great Ahmad Shah Masood was killed by the Taliban/ Al-queda combine just two days before.
America entered the scene directly and dismantled the Taliban government. No matter. Nimble footwork will make Pakistan trusted partners and key allies in the war on terror. Any time terror raises its ugly head in any part of the world, Pakistan could reach inside its nursery, grab a few ‘baddies’ and put them down, earning encomiums from the free world.
Clever, ain’t it?
7 August 2005 – Judah
to be continued (D.V)