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On Why the US Foreign Policy Will Fail in Pakistan

Posted on May 7, 2009 4:20 PM | | Comments ()
By Ali Farid Khwaja
06pakistan.600.jpg      Pakistan seems to have occupied a central space in the policy debate and foreign policy agenda of President Obama. Besides getting a lot of attention from the administration, lawmakers and think tanks, the country has also been committed substantial foreign aid package by the US Government. President Obama announced a total aid package of US $10bn to support development work and military operation by the Pakistan army. The aim of this multi-faceted aid and support package is to garner Pakistan's military support in dealing with the situation in Afghanistan, fighting the insurgent radical groups inside Pakistan and to control the threat of religious radicalization inside Pakistan. However I think that cooperation and collaboration between US and Pakistan will remain at a bottleneck until the conspiracy theories and perceptions of the US Af-Pak agenda which exist inside Pakistan are alleviated. I believe the biggest threat to US Pakistan relationship is the trust deficit which exists between the two countries, along with irresponsible media frenzy and aggressive posturing from US administration on the risks, threats and state institutions in Pakistan.
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The Taliban Cancer

Posted on April 17, 2009 6:34 PM | | Comments ()
by Muneeb Ali
The recent girl flogging video, public beheadings in Swat, regular suicide attacks, and scary NY Times articles have one thing in common. They all scream out one clear message; the Taliban movement is alive again. This time in Pakistan. The war against the Taliban will not, and cannot, be won on the battlefield alone.

If the Taliban gain strength and mobilize millions instead of thousands of followers, this clash can turn into a genocide. The Taliban will use any such genocide to further shake the status quo. The 1971 Bangladesh atrocities teach us that you cannot use bullets and bombs to stop the will of a people. It only fuels their anger and strengthens their cause. 		    taliban.jpg
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Inching Closer to a Failed State

Posted on March 3, 2009 2:34 AM | | Comments ()
by Muneeb Ali

The cricket team of Sri Lanka was attacked in Lahore, Pakistan today. They received a Taliban-style welcome with AK-47 bullets, rockets, and grenades. While terrorists are carrying out attacks in broad daylight in the heart of Pakistan - literally, those responsible for running this country are fighting over scraps of political power.

The threats to Pakistan are many. The newly elected democratic government is engaged in an internal power struggle and is perceived as doing an awful job at running the country. Al-Qaida and Taliban are strengthening their roots in the north and northwest. They recently forced the Pakistani government into accepting fundamental Islamic law in the once-beautiful-tourist-attraction of Swat. After the Mumbai attacks, there is a looming threat of yet-another-war with India. US drones bomb Pakistani soil on a regular basis, fueling anti-US and pro-Taliban sentiments. To top this all off, Pakistan's strongest institution, the army, is at record unpopularity levels - thanks both to Musharraf and to the US-lead war on terror that the Pakistani army is carrying out. 		    lal_masjid.jpg
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New Dawn for America

Posted on January 21, 2009 11:12 AM | | Comments ()
by Hassan Baig
Karneades.jpg     Around 155 B.C., the Greek post-classical philosopher Carneades of Cyrene came to Rome as one of the three Athenian ambassadors who had come to beg the Roman Senate for a political favor. A fine had been levied against the citizens of their city, and they wanted to convince Rome that it was unfair. Carneades represented the Academy - the same argumentative open-air institution where three centuries before, Socrates drove his interlocutors to murder him just to get some respite from his arguments. It was now called the New Academy, was no less argumentative, and had the reputation of being the hotbed of skepticism in the ancient world.

On the much anticipated day of his oration, Carneades stood up and delivered a brilliantly argued harangue in praise of justice and how administering it should be at the top of our motives. The Roman audience was spellbound. It was not just his charisma; the audience was swayed by the strength of the arguments, the eloquence of the thought, the purity of the language, and the energy of the speaker. But that was not the point he wanted to drill. The next day, Carneades came back, stood up, and orated the diametrically opposite of his speech from yesterday. He proceeded to contradict and refute with no less swaying arguments what he had established so convincingly the day before. He managed to persuade the very same audience in the very same spot that justice should be way down on the list of motivations for human undertakings.
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Obama's Silence on Gaza

Posted on January 14, 2009 6:10 PM | | Comments ()
by Muneeb Ali

In the last week before Obama's inauguration, people are almost numb about Gaza. At least most of them. Another graphic image of an unnamed dead child appears and you really don't want to look. This is too depressing to glance over, you justify to yourself. The death toll goes up by five or six, but who is really keeping a count? Oh they still haven't reached a thousand?

A few, however, are still human enough to feel the pain. Fresh photographs of child corpses make them hug their own kids a little closer. For these frustrated souls, the death toll of 975 is not just a number. The sacred land of monotheistic religions is bleeding. Yet again. Where are the hope candles that we all have been burning this past year? Where is Obama?

Obama can condemn the loss of life in Darfur, but not in Gaza? He can "closely monitor" the situation in Mumbai, but for Gaza there is only one President at a time? He can criticize the current President on economy, but not the Middle East? The failing US economy calls for urgent action - we understand. But when Obama tries to talk about the economy while bombs are slicing innocent humans, while hospitals are fast resembling slaughter houses, and while schools are turning in to graveyards, you can't help but wonder if he is deaf or blind or both.

    obama-israel.jpg
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10 Lessons All Pakistanis Must Learn

Posted on December 2, 2008 7:57 AM | | Comments ()
by Hassan Baig

pakistan_people.jpg     "Mulk khud hi chalta rehay ga" (approximate translation: the country doesn't need our contribution to thrive) is a sentence many Pakistanis are prone to saying. I confess that till a few years ago, I myself was confident of this misleading notion. Misleading and dangerous - especially in today's volatile climate. As Pakistanis, it is imperative that we come to terms with the fact that no heavenly Manna will alleviate our country's plight. The job rests squarely on our own shoulders; with the destiny of a whole nation tethered to our will and to the execution of that will. And so as the clock ticks and the prophets of doom raise a foreboding murmur from East to West, it is high time for us to learn some crucial lessons. Lessons without which our collective slumber will only deepen:
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Chances of a War

Posted on November 30, 2008 6:53 AM | | Comments ()
by Muneeb Ali

Pakistanis feared, and expected, that the Mumbai attacks will be linked to their country. The media was curling its fingers around this juicy possibility. Hardly waiting to savor the escalating tensions. Even before they actually existed. Now, the Pakistan Army is considering moving its troops, from the Afghan front, back to where they belonged - the Punjab border. Indo-Pak tensions are, once again, creeping into casual conversations. However, there is little, if any, real chance of a war.

If the Pakistani troops start moving towards Lahore, buckle up for needlessly frenzied media reports. Lets not forget that the Pakistani army is currently dislocated. They will only be returning home. A scenario that neither America or Afghanistan can afford at this time. If the troops start building up across the Indo-Pak border, it means going back to playing cat and mouse. The largely harmless, and occasionally catastrophic, game that both armies are accustomed to playing for the past fifty plus years. 		    India_attack24234.JPG
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Why Celebrate Obama

Posted on November 5, 2008 6:35 AM | | Comments ()
by Muneeb Ali

Obama_speech.png     Not everyone shares the excitement of Obama's election. Specially not Pakistanis. And with good reason. Obama threatened to bomb Pakistan, an ally, while trying to sound tough against Hillary. Over time he backed off, became softer, but not soft enough. Pakistanis are worried about becoming the focal point of the war on terror, instead of enjoying this historic moment for what it is. A time when tears are rolling down and a world is healing, you hear voices that nothing will change or, worse, things will complicate.

Read "Dreams from My Father". He rose from black, poor ashes and made history. He went to Harvard and became the first African-American editor of the Law Review not because of his family name, but his intellect and hardwork. He raised $640 million not by cutting deals with corporations, but by $10 dollar donations from struggling ordinary people. Today is not just about bidding farewell to W., Redneck hate, preemptive wars, and free (falling) markets, but is also about celebrating our common humanity under a 21st century progressive leader.
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The Witch Hunt

Posted on August 4, 2008 9:48 PM | | Comments ()
by Hassan Baig
There exists a foreboding murmur in the wind - young in age but formidable in intention. It was on May 12th that an article curiously titled "President Apostate?" (by Edward N. Luttwak) appeared in The New York Times. The writer, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, vehemently argued that Sen. Barack Obama would further deteriorate America's relationship with the Muslim world since many on this side of the so-called fence view him as a Muslim-by-birth who shunned the religion of his father and apostized.

On the surface of it, the article achieved little since it diverged rather blatantly from the methodology of sound argumentation via abusing the very fundamental principle of such discourse - the principle that the core of any argument must not be a difficult-to-take-seriously myth.

However Dr. Luttwak's article contained one seemingly objectively-stated subtlety. The subtlety that Sen. Obama is de facto a Muslim. 		president_apostate.jpg
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Clinton's Five Big Mistakes (and counting...)

Posted on May 8, 2008 11:37 AM | | Comments ()
by Hassan Baig

The race for choosing the Democratic nominee for Election '08 is not over yet, however it is no longer an even contest. Having amassed substantial momentum, Barack Obama has a lot going for him. However there is a very high probability that in the case of him getting the nod, the knockout blow to Hillary Clinton's aspirations would have been her own doing.

With a little more homework and prudence, her mistakes could have been avoided - creating a campaign trail which could have been a lot less littered with political speed bumps. Needless to say, these mistakes have made her task of neutralizing one of America's greatest campaigners all the more difficult. 		    clinton_obama_financing.jpg
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