report comes out to scare the world about a terrorist threat to Pakistani nukes, militants in our tribal region spring into action and provide the world with enough images to justify the propaganda. In the past three weeks, this propaganda coincided with – and was confirmed by – images from Pakistan of religious extremists slaughtering two Afghans, the kidnap and release of Pakistani Christians, and the media hype about the imminent fall of Peshawar to terrorists.
It is beyond doubt now that external powers are maintaining active and influential assets inside Pakistani territory and among tribal militants, who are heavily infiltrated. In fact, the quality and quantity of the weapons, terrorists and money that is coming in from the Afghan side indicates that we already have on our hands a low intensity war. Washington is also using Afghan soil to insert crack units inside Iran to conduct acts of sabotage and psychological operations to disorient Tehran.
If you have superiority in intelligence gathering and multiple means of buying out loyalties, like the U.S. does, then the fog of chaos is a good way of confusing the enemy and achieving the objective. The US wants to target Iran and neutralize Pakistan's ability to maintain influence in Afghanistan and Kashmir.
This is not about blaming the US for our problems. Pakistan needs to set its own house in order but there is no question that the insurgencies in Balochistan and NWFP were almost non-existent before 2005. To draw a line in the sand, Islamabad should openly declare Washington and Kabul directly responsible for the violence in its territories.
The main reason for Pakistan's vulnerability is weak leadership and a flawed political system that breeds instability. To get over this weakness, a strong federal government will have to be introduced in Islamabad at some point that is not tailored to American tastes. This government cannot be drawn from the existing failed political class and cannot be a repeat of past military governments.
The writer works for Geo TV. Email: aqahmedquraishi.com