the police leadership was full of people with a financial incentive to rob the people of Afghanistan and endanger the lives of their own men by stealing money that had been intended for the weapons, ammunition, protective equipment, fuel and other supplies that they needed to do their jobs. Yet, they did nothing about it. When it became clear that drug use among the Afghan police was rampant, they turned a blind eye to that as well.
Not surprisingly, all of these problems resulted in loss of support for the government and a resurgence of the Taliban. This caused no reassessment of American policy, however. After all, why bother behaving ethically in Afghanistan when you can be wholly unscrupulous and then blame Pakistan for all the problems there?
Meanwhile, in Iraq, the Baghdad government reneged on the power-sharing agreements it had made with the Sunni minority, and imprisoned thousands of them. There were also Shia murder squads roaming the streets looking for Sunni leaders. At least one Sunni member of parliament was taken away by government forces and never seen again. The US neither lifted a finger nor said a word. Then, when Sunnis flocked to Isis, Washington just couldn’t understand why. Iraq imploded. Of course, Washington accepts no responsibility for this.
The US government cares almost nothing for the people of any developing country it deals with. If you are willing to be compliant, you can rob, sexually assault, imprison or even murder civilians and Washington will back you to the hilt. Knowing that the US is behind them tends to make corrupt or despotic officials more brazen. The result is far more robbery, sexual assault, false imprisonment or murder than there otherwise would have been.
The US isn’t just ignoring these corrosive problems, it is causing them. Of course, when a country ends up in anarchy as a result of all of this, Washington will never accept any blame. The US refuses either to behave morally or to take responsibility for the problems its immoral behaviour practically guarantees. This is why the US is hated as it is.
American behaviour has been similar in Pakistan. The United States has enabled undemocratic or corrupt behaviour by governments willing to dance to Washington’s tune. As a result of this behaviour, and the indecent liberties those governments allowed the US to take against Pakistani sovereignty, outrage against both the US and those governments was widespread.
Pakistan has not been destroyed though. I credit this mostly to a firm commitment to democracy on the part of the Pakistani people, the courts and the army. The judiciary and the people won’t stand for cancelled or rigged elections anymore and the army won’t back any government that tries it.
Thus, every government now knows going in that it must answer to the people at the polls, and that no amount of American support can keep a government in power if the Pakistani people don’t want it there. That knowledge provides a strong incentive for the government to resist the temptations that come with American support. May the people, the judiciary and the army remain strong in defence of their country.
I need to add a word on another crisis for which US government callousness is largely to blame. There are a number of aid organisations providing aid to Syrian refugees, whose plight is now absolutely desperate. Please consider a donation.
The writer is an associate at the Center for Security and Science. He has served in the New Hampshire legislature and as an election monitor in Pakistan.
Email: TGHatCSSgmail.com