Wages of war

This refers to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken. In his testimony before Congress on the victory of the Taliban in Afghanistan, he said that Pakistan’s role was detrimental to US interests in the region. All countries act in their own self-interest – like the US asking Pakistan to join CENTO and SEATO to stand against the USSR. What benefit did Pakistan get from it, other than the Soviet premier’s warning that he had aimed Soviet missiles at Peshawar? Till the start of the Afghan War in 1979, the US did not have Pakistan on its radar. Then, overnight Pakistan became a frontline state in the US’s proxy war with the USSR. Though Pakistan got F-16s and other military equipment, Pakistan also received millions of Afghan refugees, drugs, guns and crime. Once again Pakistan was ignored till 9/11 happened. The US needed Pakistan again and so it became ‘the most favored non-NATO ally’. The US lost 3,000 people in the 9/11 attacks. Pakistan lost over 70,000 military and police personnel, and innocent civilians in America’s ‘war on terror’.

To the US government Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan appears to be ‘duplicitous’. It is unfortunate for US taxpayers that America’s ‘war on terror’ lasted so long.

Syed Hussein El-Edroos

Islamabad