Daily Times

Due to its fragile economy after the 9/11 tragedy, Pakistan joined the US-led Global War on Terror (GWoT) and was granted the status of a non-NATO ally. This was due to the early successes achieved by Pakistan’s Army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) against Al-Qaeda militants.

But when the US-led NATO forces felt that they were failing to cope with the stiff resistance of the Taliban in Afghanistan, they started a blame game against Pak Army and the ISI-of supporting the Afghan Taliban. Their main purpose was to pacify their people. They constantly emphasised upon Islamabad to do more against the militants and continued the CIA-operated drone attacks on Pakistan’s tribal areas while ignoring the internal backlash in the country.

Pakistan faced various kinds of terror attacks on its civil and military installations, including that on personnel, because of GWoT. Besides collateral damage, the country also faced serious implications such as political instability and an economic crisis.

The new GWoT narrative would help the transcending a demoralised nation into a strengthened, integrated and resilient Pakistani nation

Pakistan’s Armed Forces, particularly Army, have successfully broken the backbone of foreign-backed terrorists under military operations -Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad. Meanwhile, the ISI has broken the network of these terrorist groups by capturing several militants and thwarting a number of terror attempts. Thus, peace was restored in various regions of the country, especially in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Undoubtedly, Pakistan’s security forces have eliminated terrorism. But in the recent past, terror assaults in some areas of the country, particularly in Balochistan, which is the central point of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), indicate that the CIA-led Indian RAW, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, National Directorate of Security, and Israeli Mossad are weakening Pakistan. They seem to want to damage the CPEC project, which is a part of China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative or BRI. The US, India as well as some Western countries have already opposed this project. External agencies are supporting separatists in Balochistan; Afghanistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its affiliated terror outfits. These have all claimed responsibilities for various subversive acts. Besides, Pakistan is the only nuclear country in the Islamic World and has become a special target of these secret agencies that want to destabilize it.

Nonetheless, terrorism-related attacks have now been reduced to a minimum, largely due to the vigilance and quick response of the security forces. To sustain the hard-earned peace, Pakistan Army is rapidly completing the fencing of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

As regards the participation in the US-led Global War on Terror, Pakistan has suffered 75,000 casualties. Over $123 billion was lost to the economy, while US aid was a mere $20 billion. Tribal areas were devastated while millions of people uprooted from their homes. The country also officially hosted 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees.

Furthermore, foreign investment stopped, which gave another setback to the economy. As a result, Islamabad’s dependence on financial institutes like the IMF and World Bank increased as it was compelled to take more debt from them.

It is mentionable that the US has not taken any practical action to the tune of sanctions against India in response to the continued lockdown in the Indian-occupied Kashmir.

Meanwhile, the US, which clearly prefers India over Pakistan, is not favouring Islamabad in connection with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that has still kept Pakistan on the grey list. On the other hand, China is strongly supporting Pakistan in this respect in the wake of Indian attempts to blacklist the latter.

Taking cognisance of these negative developments, Pakistan has decided to revise its relations with the US and also left the GWoT.

In this respect, when tensions between Washington and Tehran dramatically sharpened after the Iranian missile attacks on the US military bases in Iraq on January 8, 2020, (in response to the US drone strike at Baghdad’s airport on January 3, 2020) Prime Minister Imran Khan declared on January 10 that Pakistan would not become a part of anyone else’s war.

Earlier, the then DG of the ISPR, Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor, had also stated that Pakistan would not allow its soil to be used against anyone and would continue to play its role in establishing durable peace in the region.

Nevertheless, this indicates the policy transformation of Islamabad not only with the US but also regarding the GWoT. Indeed, Islamabad’s resolve to neither take sides in any regional or global conflict nor allow its soil to be used against any nation would further enhance the credibility and genuineness of its new narrative.

These decisions have led to positive effects; pointing out the benefits of a new narrative for Pakistan. It will also uplift Pakistan’s image abroad.

Notably, Pakistan’s gradual transition from a country struggling to fight terrorism and religious militancy to a peaceful and tolerant society with more potential for economic progress in the digital age has been appreciated by the international community.

In this context, in the recent past, visits of British Royalty and other globally-acclaimed celebrities to Pakistan and the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country are signs of a changing Pakistan.

In fact, foreign investment is essential for less developed countries. In this regard, a report prepared within the framework of the activities of the Committee on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises (CIME) said: “Developing countries, emerging economies and countries in transition have come increasingly to see FDI as a source of economic development and modernization…Countries have liberalised their FDI regimes and pursued their policies to attract foreign investment.”

While on the internal security situation, the new GWoT narrative would help the transcending a demoralised nation into a strengthened, integrated and resilient Pakistani nation, which is capable enough to welcome modern challenges.

Despite policy changes, Islamabad will continue to have a cordial relationship with Washington. The latter must also show a positive response; taking note of Pakistan’s key role in the US-Taliban agreement and its efforts for regional peace.

The writer writes on international affairs and is the author of the book, “US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations.” He can be reached at sajjad_logic@yahoo.com