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As any other average Pakistani growing up in the vivid age of Americanism, I always felt the need to link economic prosperity and success with the American dream. I impulsively followed every American trend — whether social or political — which was in vogue at a particular time. It was this myth deeply rooted in my mind that the West can never be wrong and that the occidental culture was the epitome of grace and grandeur.
By utilizing the unique concept of soft power America became influential enough to persuade the gullible youth of the Global South to believe the dreadful lie that they (youth) were pretty much worthless and in order to put on the garb of civility and intellectualism they had to follow the infallible policies and schemes of the New World made for their betterment purely out of goodwill and compassion.
The New World never really got over the White Man’s Burden approach and has produced a plethora of modified versions in order to satisfy and glorify its vicious conscience.
We as a nation blindly started to follow the American values without estimating their catastrophic effects on our cultural values, customs and social mores. We have time and again tried everything in power to gladden and gratify the American establishment but what do we always get in return: Do more!
Humiliated socially and politically at every international forum. Characterized as radical goons, outlaws and thugs.
Former US President Barack Obama has refrained from mentioning even a single positive remark relating to Pakistan in his latest memoir “The Promised Land” (published in 2020).
Former US President Barack Obama has refrained from mentioning even a single positive remark relating to Pakistan in his latest memoir “The Promised Land.”
In places like Yemen and Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, Obama wrote, “The lives of millions of young men” had been “warped and stunted by desperation, ignorance, dreams of religious glory, the violence of their surroundings or the schemes of older men”. Arguing that these young men were “dangerous” and “often deliberately and casually cruel”, Obama in his book wrote empathetically that he still wanted “somehow to save them-send them to school, give them a trade, drain them of the hate that had been filling their heads.” But immediately added, “And yet the world they were a part of, and the machinery I commanded, more often had me killing them instead.” Thus illusively and almost brazenly the former US President has tried to justify the gruesome actions carried out by his administration and has also given a glimpse of the prevalent American sentiments relating to the Pakistani nation.
Providing a detailed insight into how he, as the US President, gave the go-ahead to take out al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden inside Pakistani territory, Abbottabad, Obama wrote that Laden was buried at sea to avoid “the creation of a pilgrimage site for jihadists.”
To put the whole blame on American shoulders would be a sheer departure from the truth.
“The fact that the Abbottabad compound was just a few miles from the Pakistan military’s equivalent of West Point only heightened the possibility that anything we told the Pakistanis could end up tipping off our target,” Obama revealed and almost purposefully forgot to acknowledge the Pakistani efforts and the price Pakistan had to pay for supporting US War on Terror losing thousands of civilians as a result of US drone strikes.
But to put the whole blame on American shoulders would be a sheer departure from the truth. The ruling elite and our policy makers have frequently made a Faustian bargain with the American government mortgaging our dignity and vast armed services in exchange for humiliation, terrorism and atrocious sanctions.The CIA-led US drone operation is widely unpopular in Pakistan. From 2004 onward, US drones carried out more than 400 strikes in the tribal areas located in the northern mountainous region. Between 424 and 969 civilians including more than 172 children were killed by bombs rained down by Predator and Reaper drones, according to The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ).
PM Khan ruled out the possibility of Pakistan allowing its territory to be used for US military bases that could support Afghan forces.
Finally, with the advent of new administration with Imran Khan as its chieftain, the nation is witnessing much needed shift of perspective with hope of regaining the long-awaited legacy of dignity, co-operation as friends on equal level not as subordinates catering to the wishes of apathetic master.
Khan ruled out the possibility of Pakistan allowing its territory to be used for US military bases that could support Afghan forces.
“There is no way we are going to allow any bases, any sort of action from Pakistani territory into Afghanistan,” he said. “Absolutely not.”
“We will be partners in peace, not in conflict,” he said.
Khan, who has been in office since 2018, has long opposed US military intervention in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s own tribal region. And it’s unlikely he’ll back down.
As an opposition leader in 2012, Imran Khan led thousands of people in a rally from Islamabad to the tribal areas to protest US drone operations.
Pakistan aims to be partners in peace, not in conflict.
Finally, proper and acknowledged courage has been shown by the Pakistani leadership. US needs to accept Pakistan as a co-equal and see eye to eye with Pakistan on matters concerned in order to work for a peaceful resolution of the Afghan issue and for working towards improving bilateral relations with both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A contributed article by Sunbal Nawaz Lashari
