It was March 1980. My Battalion was deployed at the Nawa Pass (Bajur Agency), where military forces of the erstwhile USSR were in the process of occupying Afghanistan. The Russian MI 24 Helicopters would frequently violate Pakistan airspace, chasing and strafing Afghan Muhajhreen consisting of elderly men, old and young women and children. While carrying the household equipment on their animals, really in a miserable plight, they would walk several miles in the rugged mountainous terrain to cross over Durand Line into Pakistan. I vividly recollect a few childbirths in the regimental medical aid post on the border by distressed Afghan women, but then, the mothers walked down the hills after a few hours. Pakistan Army, at that time, had the instructions to resist retaliation to avoid escalation on the borders. However, the Afghan War, which the US sponsored and Pakistan fought as a frontline partner, continued for the next few years until the breakup of the erstwhile USSR. Ultimately, the US achieved its most sought-after military objective after WW-2 but at the cost of Afghan blood and destruction of the social and moral fibre of Afghan nationhood, and the proliferation of “Jihadism” as well as the gun culture within Pakistan. This was the time when the Pakistan Army initiated contemplating and evaluating the military strategy in case of two front wars.
History repeated itself after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center at the beginning of the 21st Century, but in the reverse and opposite order during the so-called Global War on Terror (GWOT). Both episodes transpired by default or by design during the two different military dictatorships in Pakistan. The Afghan and Pakistan casualties (dead) through GWOT were 250,000 and 80,000 respectively by the end of the year 2021. The US suffered 4000 uniformed casualties only during the same period. The Afghan War as well as GWOT boosted Pakistan’s economy considerably, especially the military potential. However, it is a million-dollar question, “At what cost and suffering.” Another important query is what other options Pakistan had on both these occasions. In my reckoning is “None.” Probably, it is the peculiar geostrategic location in addition to the weak economy of Pakistan that forced it to subdue US demands in both circumstances. The prevailing international environment during the Afghan War 1980s could have caused a total collapse of Pakistan’s defences and opened routes for the Soviet troops to Gwader / Karachi. After 9/11 the Coalition Forces of GWOT would have taken on together, Pakistan as part of Afghanistan (Afpak).
It is the peculiar geostrategic location in addition to the weak economy of Pakistan that forced it to subdue US demands.
The international environment prior to 9/11 was not as finicky as twisted after the attack on the Twin Towers, in New York. General Musharraf visited Libya during the last week of April 2000 and landed at Sirte Airport, on a chartered flight from Cairo, Egypt. Libya was at that time under UN sanctions and leader Mummer al-Gaddafi was lodging in a tent village near his birthplace, Sirte. Leader Qaddafi right in his opening remarks, in violation of all diplomatic niceties, cautioned General Musharraf for avoiding similar treatment to Mian Nawaz Sharif as was meted out to ZA Bhutto by Zia Ul Haq in 1979. It was diplomatically uncomfortable and turned General Musharraf red-faced. Subsequently, the delegation cherished diplomatic niceties and parley of the Libyan Government for three days at Sirte. Leader Qaddafi was always even-tempered and strictly observed regular prayer times during his official commitments and would occasionally lead the prayer. The government of Libya was then a direct democracy with no political parties under Gaddafi’s supervision as Quaid al-Sorra (revolutionary leader). Libya under Gaddafi was not at all hellish as the world has been made to believe by Western World propaganda. Leader Gaddafi had made sure that all citizens could afford a respectable standard of living and housing at full government subsidies. Under Qaddafi, education, and health care were absolutely free for all. Qaddafi was known for generously helping some of the poor countries of the African Continent as well. Contrarily, see how revengeful the US is. The ultimate fate of Qaddafi, after the assassination of the US Ambassador in Benghazi in 2012, is one case in point.
General Hussam Swelium from Egypt, who served as Defence Attaché in India and authored two books on the Indo-Israel Strategic Alliance, would frequently counter-argue US-Israel-India as the real axis of evil instead of Iraq-Iran-North Korea as labelled by President Bush after the 9/11 attacks on Twin Towers. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is another unfortunate victim of the prevailing unipolar world order. Qaddafi out-rightly opposed the two-state solution for Palestine and blamed Arab monarchs for bartering the blood of Palestinians to continue with their respective empires. The US wars in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (1991 and 2003) and today in Ukraine against Russia, and its dangerous confrontation with China have been with little consideration for world opinion and even less for preventing war through negotiation. The US answers to nobody, not even international law. This is “the Godfather attitude” which aims to protect the property, privileges and power of the ruling elite in the US and its closest allies. It is a continuation of imperialism. Nevertheless, the US had to withdraw from Afghanistan and virtually from Iraq. It has also been unable to control the political dynamics in Libya unleashed by its orchestrated assault on Qaddafi.
A million-dollar question is what Pakistan gained to continue maintaining relevance with the US for the last seventy years. The simple answer is billions of dollars at the cost of sacrificing most of the elements of sovereign nationhood. Another counter-question is whether Pakistan can say no to the “US subservience” in the prevailing “World Order.” My answer is a big “NO.” Learn to live with.
The writer is a retired Pakistan Army officer.