Hot on the heels of Pakistan’s decision to publicly announce that it is no longer playing ball with the US on the intelligence sharing front comes the release of a Taliban-published book in the Urdu language. And it brings with it for the first time a claim of responsibility by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that it was responsible for sending suicide squads to assassinate Benazir Bhutto. Inquilab Mehsood South Waziristan — From British Raj to American Imperialism is said to be penned by a TTP leader, Abu Mansoor. This is not the first time that militants have published ‘literature’. Back in 2012, an English translation of poetry by the Afghan Taliban was released and, for a time at least, was readily available here in Pakistan.
This recent admission, however, lets Gen (rtd) Musharraf off the hook somewhat. After all, he has always maintained that he thrice approached the Americans with the coordinates of Baitullah Mehsud, the then TTP leader. Yet the US only acted when the latter threatened to blow up New York; finally taking him out in 2009.
Meaning that from Pakistan’s perspective, intelligence sharing with the US doesn’t pay off. Never mind that we stand accused of giving those that American drones have in their sights timely tip-offs. In any case, Washington hasn’t always relied upon shared intelligence, at times preferring to send in Special Operations forces to go it alone on that front. Or the SEALs as in the case of the deadly targeting of Bin Laden.
Therefore what we have from the top leadership here in the country is nothing more than a dedicated performance strictly designed to play to the cheap seats. Yet if those at the helm really want to get under Trump Town’s skin they might want to take a leaf out of the British Labour Party’s book. For not only has London Mayor Sadiq Khan long said that the American president would not be welcome in his city — now we have Jeremy Corbyn, the only statesman that the country has, going one step further. For he has said categorically that the relationship with Washington is not his country’s most important. And this, too, despite Britain being almost as dependent upon US cash as we are; with the PM trying her best to secure a trade deal to keep the country afloat post-Brexit. But then, unlike us, London is a major player on the global arms market. Though we sincerely hope that this doesn’t give our leaders undue pause for thought.
Indeed, now that the mainstreaming project is fully underway, there is nothing much left to encourage Pakistan to share intelligence with the US; especially given that it will never go after those groups who do their deadliest in Indian-held Kashmir. Not when that area is vital to this country’s water security. But, nevertheless, we would still advise caution. Particularly, considering that cooperation and mutual trust will be needed to tackle the matter of Afghan safe-havens from where attacks are launched on our side of the border. After all, we can’t rely on the Chinese for everything. *
Published in Daily Times, January 16th 2018.