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Two recent
books tell why Pakistan should not be considered an American
ally. Both Carlotta Gall in The Wrong Enemy: American
in Afghanistan, 2001 - 2014, and Husain Haqqani in Magnificent
Delusions: Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History
of Misunderstanding, take a critical look at relations between
Pakistan and the US. Their significant resumes qualify them
to explore why the nation of Pakistan can be considered a
"frenemy" at best.
Gall, Afghanistan's bureau chief and correspondent for The
New York Times between 2001 and 2011, writes a compelling
narrative of the US experience in Afghanistan since 9/11 and
tells how Pakistan has aided and abetted the Taliban and Al
Qaeda. She shows that the Pakistani military and their intelligence
service, the ISI, support, fund, train, and arm these groups
in an attempt to disrupt the Afghani government. In the book
she states, "For years American officials failed to recognize
the huge investment in time, money and military effort that
Pakistan had put into the Taliban from 1994 to 2001. This
changed for a couple of years after 9/11, but the Pakistani
security and military establishment were still determined
to dominate Afghanistan." There is startling evidence
of Pakistan's fueling and protecting terrorist groups, including
Osama Bin Laden.
Gall commented, "The nation of Afghanistan and its people
are not the bad guys. They are in fact, hospitable, warm,
tough, traditional, have personal values, and are steadfastly
loyal. The major enemy is the instigator across the border,
the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan that are directed by
the ISI and the military. This country is a state sponsor
of terrorism that encourages the insurgency against civilian
targets."
She feels the world, and specifically the US, needs to wake-up
and use pressure and economic leverage to stop the training
and abetting of these terrorist groups.. In writing this book,
Gall hopes to show how Anti-American sentiment is fostered
by the Pakistani intelligence through its media sources. She
also notes that the Pakistani people are more hostile today
than in the twenty years she has covered that area because
of the indoctrination. As evidence the author points out how
journalists, including hers, are intimidated. In fact, this
book is not available in Pakistan and when the Express
Tribune tried to run a story on it the only thing people
saw was a blank page.
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