Pakistan See America as Friend Not Master

Using Pakistan as a scapegoat for their failure in Afghanistan has become a habit for the American administration. Their trillion dollar defeat is a reason for great embarrassment for them and Donald Trump is no different from his predecessors where the blame game is concerned. Trump in his anti-media stance, repeatedly tries to find excuses when faced with questions about his erratic behaviour and the countries repeated failures in their Middle East and Asia policies. 

America has lost the war in Afghanistan and it is no secret. The once rag-tag militia, the Taliban which the Americans themselves created with Pakistan, have made the mighty US look weak in Afghanistan in the same way they did to the USSR between 1979 and 1989. The tables have been turned on the Americans.

The Russians are now in negotiations with the Taliban, who were once their sworn enemies, to stabilize the region by accepting their legitimate share in power in Afghanistan. Americans are seemingly not on board, but there is little they can do to avoid the inevitable. The Taliban are there in Afghanistan to stay. And the only way the Taliban will accept peace in Afghanistan is if the US will withdraw from Afghanistan completely and vacate the military bases that they are occupying. US/NATO has no problem with that but want to retain at least a single US/NATO troops base in Afghanistan.

It is a fact that the USA with all its military and financial might is unable to win the war they had started in Afghanistan. For all the financial losses of a trillion dollars, the American casualties of the Afghan war are only casually mentioned. 

The American people are rightly fed up. Americans may blame Pakistan for providing logistical support to the Taliban, but the fact remains that, Pakistan acted in her national interest in a world where the USA is no more the sole super-power. 

The country is fast loosing clout in the Asia pacific in particular. The oil wars in Iraq on the false narrative of WMD have only benefited the western mega corporations, but they came at the cost of political instability in the Middle East and Asia, creating gaps in the American influence in the region. This scenario has brought forth regional alliances, led by Russia and China to fill the gaps left behind due to the US led failure in the Middle East.  

Pakistan's prefererence of their neighborhood alliances of China and Russia over Trumps bullying tactics of subservience. Any intelligent American should be able to realize that up until their country has significant dealings and comradeship with India, a sworn enemy of Pakistan, the Pakistani's would only logically find it in their national interest to side with China and Russia.

Pakistan once helped America and the west to defeat the spread of USSR in Afghanistan. It was jointly in the national interest of Pakistan and combined Western bloc to not allow the USSR to reach the warm waters of the Arabian sea, directly connecting the USSR with the oil rich Middle East. Due to those events andPakistan's participation, Pakistan became the last frontier of the war between Capitalism and Communism also known as the Cold War.

Pakistan fought and won that war for the entire free world as the last line of defense against Communism taking over the world. It was made possible with the American support (which made America the sole super-power of the world) and due to the fighting prowess of the militia they created to fight USSR in Afghanistan, now known as the Taliban. The same Taliban refused to accept the American narrative post 9/11 and choose to fight a prolonged gorilla war with the American led invasion of Afghanistan.

Pakistan sided with the Americans again in this war under pressure from its traditional allies in Washington, however stopped short of targeting those Afghan Taliban who in turn had decided not to attack the state of Pakistan for reasons closer to home, including their own families that were residing in Pakistan. 

Pakistan had enough of their own problems without the Pakistani Taliban taking on the country for siding with the Americans in the global war on terror (GWOT) Pakistan lost billions of dollars and thousands of its people including military and civilian citizens in this bloody war within, fought as part of the US led GWOT. 

Pakistan only felt it pragmatic not to take upon their enemies like the Afghan Taliban, firstly because they already had their hands full, and secondly because they did not want to lose strategic influence in Afghanistan which now had a hostile government in Kabul, influenced by the US led Western alliance after overthrowing the Taliban government there. Pakistan was again proven right for taking this stance, since the American backed government in Kabul is now visibly more inclined towards New Delhi than Islamabad.  

The situation is now playing out in a way that the Taliban are in negotiations with Russia and China, facilitated by Pakistan to bring an end to the war in Afghanistan, which is critical for the regional stability. However, the only pre-condition of such peace to take place is for the US/NATO forces to unilaterally withdraw for Afghanistan. 

The USA/EU is obviously not in favour of such a peace accord in which they will have to lose not only face but also influence, to Russia and China. Having said that, what the US/Western camp fails to appreciate is that they are meddling in the very backyard of Russia and China. There is but only a limit to which the US/West can sustain their already dwindling presence and influence in Afghanistan. 

Traditionally the geo-strategic position of Pakistan combined with a strong nuclear armed military which has already defeated the insurgency within Pakistan, holds the key to facilitate the end game in Afghanistan.

Once again Afghanistan is at the forefront and is witnessing the fall of another great empire on its tough terrain and again it is up to Pakistan to show a mirror to the USA, like it once did to the USSR. 

The world has finally moved from the sole superpower world order to yet again a multi-polar world order.

                                              

Peace is the only Logical Way forward.             

Renegotiating of CPEC by Pakistan Govt

There is a wind of positive change and optimistic horizons being projected these days in Pakistan by the educated and patriotic class who supports Imran Khan, who is successful in making his government in the country. One of the very first actions he took as the Prime Minister of the country having the unprecedented, unconditional support of the powerful Armed Forces of the country which has ruled Pakistan for the majority of its creation, is to revisit all the mega contracts made by the previous government, shrouded in the clout of secrecy. Prime Minister Imran Khan or #PMIK as he is affectionately called, announced that not only they will renegotiate the mega international agreements like CPEC(China Pakistan Economic Corridor), but also make the details of these agreements public. It might have caused quite a stir among the investors in particular the Chinese Government, who is the principal investor in the project as such, but, Mr Khans Govt made it clear to everyone that all such contracts will have to be renegotiated keeping the interest of Pakistani public foremost, which has not been the case previously. The existing agreements were made by the Sharif brothers keeping in view their personal business interests and those of their supporters before Pakistani national interests. Because of the said conflict of interests the Nawaz League Govt signed the CPEC contracts on weak footings. It must be mentioned that the Pakistani economic isolation also played its part in subjugating the previous Govt under Beijing. However, rampant corruption at the highest levels in the previous Govt is the essential cause of the said renegotiation.

Before proceeding further, let us clarify the ambiguity about the renegotiation being illegal as such. It may be noted that, all such mega contracts spread over decades, can be renegotiated any time, by any side/party, as and when ground conditions clash with the paper clauses of the agreement. Having said that, in this case the terms of the CPEC agreements are reportedly highly unfair to Pakistan, which the previous Govt accepted firstly because of their own individual vested interests and secondly because they felt, they were under international economic isolation, with the Chinese offering the only way out, so they took the deal on their terms.

So what changed in Pakistan, which warrants such a renegotiation?. Honest leadership serving the national interests of the country is that change which require such an appraisal. Beside, the secret deal made by the previous govt under said circumstances will lead Pakistan into a debt trap where the country will be eventually forced to surrender strategic assets like ports and communication infrastructure to the Chinese side eventually.

Pakistan must not sell for any less, as our Chinese friends are also all about keeping business as business and cup of tea as cup of tea.

The Chinese partners may well be investing the major portion of the CPEC investments, but the entire model has to be workable and favourable for the host country that is Pakistan. It must be understood that the Pakistanis need the CPEC infrastructure projects as much as the Chinese, who want to control the entire regional trade with CPEC as its pivot. Pakistan must not sell for any less, as our Chinese friends are also all about keeping business as business and cup of tea as cup of tea.

The success of CPEC will most certainly decide the status of the Chinese Peoples Republic as the global number ONE power house as against the United States of America. The failure of CPEC God forbid, will not only devastate the Pakistani economy but would also mean the death of the Chinese "1 trillion US dollar" dream of the One Belt One Road(OBOR) project of global economic dominance.

The USA has launched an all out effort in partnership with India to somehow jeopardize the CPEC project. However, this unholy effort is most likely to fail due to Geo-strategical position of Pakistan viz a viz a strong nuclear armed military and the economic and military clout of the Chinese. It does however, provides Pakistan with an option to look the other way if the Chinese partners in CPEC do not make an honest deal with Pakistan regards CPEC which benefits Pakistan in the long run as well as China.

The end state in the near future looks like a settlement of terms and continued fast pace development of CPEC. This would leave the USA no other choice but to compromise and become partners in the mega economic venture called CPEC and OBOR. This would bring India into her senses forcing them to plead Pakistan and China in order to join the CPEC-OBOR project. It would only bring peace and stability through economic integration and poverty alleviation in the most populated region of the world.

 It is finally the time for the Chinese to prove their age old slogan of Sino-Pak friendship which is supposed to be deeper than the oceans and sweeter than honey

It is finally the time for the Chinese to prove their age old slogan of Sino-Pak friendship which is supposed to be deeper than the oceans and sweeter than honey. Its time to prove that China is a friend to Pakistan before being a business partner.         

Why Did The Military Establishment Help Imran Khan?

Imran Khan is widely seen as a messiah by the burgeoning youth of Pakistan who holds the miracle to take them out of poverty and provide them with jobs

Idealism aside, let us ascertain some ground facts which are well established in Pakistan, before answering the subject question :-

1- Nawaz Sharif made billions of USD acquired through systematic white collar crimes commissioned while he held power in Pakistan as the Chief Minister of Punjab and Prime Minister of Pakistan. Through this ill gotten wealth his sons acquired multi million pounds properties in the UK. He was kicked out of power by General Musharraf and pardoned off his crimes because the military dictator wanted to legitimize his rule. More than a decade later, Nawaz Sharif ultimately came back and regained power, but this time around decided to show the all powerful military as to who is the BOSS. However, with the kinds of skeletons the BOSS had hidden in his cabinet, the military establishment refused to take him seriously. Upon this, the advisors of Nawaz led by his wannabe next Benazir, daughter Maryam, initiated a campaign on social and mainstream media to malign the reputation of the military in Pakistan. The military got further estranged and decided to show Nawaz Sharif the mirror hung on the wall made by the bricks of gold acquired through decades of corruption and plunder in Pakistan. Nawaz would not have budged even then, but the global exposure through PANAMA PAPERS after WIKILEAKS brought his tall claims of honesty to ground. Imran Khan, as a result got the opportunity of his life time and took Nawaz Sharif to court over the charges of corruption as levelled in the PANAMA PAPERS. The military which was already infuriated by the funny behavior of Nawaz Sharif and his daughter, just had to tell the Judges, that their security will be ensured if they decided to judge Nawaz Sharif on merit. The rest is on historic record.

2- Irrespective of Nawaz and his daughter becoming convicted criminals and put behind bars, his brother Shahbaz held power in the biggest and richest province of Pakistan, that's Punjab. Nawaz Sharif still held the ace cards in his hands with his party ruling both Punjab and the central government in Pakistan. They choose the key appointments who had to conduct the elections 2018 themselves leaving little to no room for election rigging on the polling day in Pakistan.

3- Pakistan is essentially a tribal society where majority of power is held by the feudal lords specially in the rural areas. These feudal lords always side with the governing party in Pakistan to stay relevant. They follow the advise of the military establishment who are the strongest power broker in Pakistan holding the dominant share in the power dynamics of the country having ruled Pakistan for majority of its independent history.

4- Imran Khan due to his celebrity status is the hope and source of aspiration for the desperate for change, burgeoning youth of Pakistan who forms 60% of the vote bank in country. However, what these dominant youth cult following don't know or wish to acknowledge is that Imran Khan failed to reign in corruption of his party members who are chip from the same old block in Pakistan. Besides the fact that he is reportedly a drugs addict and can not operate without the cocaine he is used to since decades.

5- Military establishment of Pakistan is not ruled by dynasties or a permanent chair, but those in charge come up, through a strictly merit based system which is open for all Pakistanis without any prejudice unlike the case in politics. Also the bosses in the military establishment has to retire permanently after a prescribed time period unlike politics. They are a collation of patriotic Pakistanis who have pledged their lives for the country and supreme national interest. Having said that, the same system is at times misused by those at the top and exploited to attain personal benefits.

6- Like all powerful countries in the world, in particular the USA, military establishment of Pakistan possesses an intricate system to collect and analyze information regards domestic and foreign matters having an impact on the national interest. Owing to the international non acceptance of military dictatorships and its economic ramifications, after the Musharraf era, the Pakistani military bosses decided in principal not to carry out another coup, until and unless forced by actual circumstances as per the constitution of Pakistan. There is a consensus among all ranks of the Pakistani military establishment that the continuation of the democratic process is the only way forward for Pakistan for the sake of her people and their prosperity. In the absence of strong institutions but the military establishment still holds the role of the power broker in the country for the sake of her stability upon which the economies of modern nation states are based upon.

7- With Nawaz Sharif loosing his credibility and hell bent to destroy the repute of the military which is sacrificing their lives on daily basis in a terrorism infested country, the military establishment was apparently left with no other choice but forced to tell the feudal lords in their established role as the power brokers in the country to either join the opposition party of Imran khan who is definitely seen as a messiah by the youth of the country waiting for a miracle to happen and change their lives or contest the elections as independent candidates leaving Nawaz Sharif and his party to themselves. Without the support of traditional winning horses Nawaz was bound to loose the race.


    That's what exactly transpired on the election day, which resulted in a win for Imran Khan.

    For the sake of stability and economic prosperity of Pakistan, Imran Khan is thus likely to be supported and obeyed by the military establishment till such time he delivers upon his promises and is able to reign in his team, making them perform and keep a check on his own addictions.          

How India Is Loosing War In Kashmir

Srinagar, Indian Held Kashmir, 16 March 2018, A Pakistani flag being wrapped and waved during the funereal prayers of two suspected Kashmiri militant martyred by the Indian forces

Once Pervez Musharraf was made to take a U-turn on the Pakistani decades old policy of sponsoring insurgency in Kashmir under the intense US pressure chartered by India as a pre condition to join the US camp in 2004, everyone around the globe thought, the Kashmir freedom struggle is over for good.  All the odds back then, favoured India, which diverted its funds and energies free from a bloody conflict towards economic progress, while allocating a meagre portion of these funds, which were still substantial, towards hiring the Taliban ideological mercenaries, who got unemployed as a result of the Pakistani policy U-turn, and employed them to wreck havoc in Pakistan using the friendly Afghan soil post 9/11, giving Pakistan, a taste of its own medicine.

13 years on, irrespective of the immense punishment Pakistan withstood by its Frankenstein monster, not only the Pakistani Armed Forces have marginalised the threat to its homeland, but also kept open the channels with the Afghan Taliban who are fighting the US occupation, all the while forging new alliances with old foes Russia with the help of the Chinese partners, blunting all efforts by the US/Allies to bring India forward in the regional theatre in order to do the dirty work for their US partners. The US led western alliance failed to bring order to Afghanistan on their terms, even after pouring trillions of dollars in the Afghan war effort, and loosing thousands of lives. The USA, but have none else to blame but their own people, whose corporate greed took them to the 'Oil Wars' in Iraq on fabricated perspectives and false narratives, shifting focus from the Afghan war effort and its original idea, which was to defeat Al-Qaeda.

13 years on, on the other hand, the Pakistani flag is fluttering high on every nook and corner of the Indian occupied Kashmir. The Kashmiri resistance is now a full blown, indigenous freedom struggle having the UN resolutions to back it up and an international diaspora supporting the cause. India made the mistake of resolving the Kashmir dispute on the model of Israeli occupation of Palestine. However, the Indians forgot, that the Kashmiris at their side of the border looks across ta the Pakistani side of their divided land. The Pakistani side has the Kashmiris, in it living a privileged life, marked with freedom, autonomy, tax free status and many perks including the right to reserved government jobs, university admissions and buying land all across Pakistan while no Pakistani can buy land in Kashmir or be employed on their state jobs. The list goes on, and this example coupled with the high handed role of the Indian security forces deployed in Kashmir under the notorious armed forces special powers act allowing them to to prosecute and kill the Kashmiris, 'disenfranchised' the Kashmiri youth, who eventually took up arms against the Indian occupation of their lands, marred by rape, torture and murder of the Kashmiris.

The modern day heroes in the Indian occupied Kashmir are the likes of Burhan Wani and his followers. The indigenous freedom struggle is here to stay and grow, which will be augmented by the Indian trouble on their borders with China. All what this freedom struggle requires is an influx of some cheap unmarked Chinese SMGs, which are already held by the new breed of militant youth in Kashmir eager to seek revenge from the Indians, for decades of unabated prosecution.

 The meteoric rise of Modi with an ultra nationalist Hindu agenda in India, only proved as a catalyst for the Kashmiri freedom struggle. Modi and his advisers like Ajit Doval wish to follow Israel, and settle Hindus in Kashmir on the Israeli occupation and land grab model of Palestine. However, the Hindus may be financially compatible with the Jews, but they are no comparison to them when the fight hits the dogs. Beside, no respectable Hindu family would wish to migrate to Kashmir, as its not their 'promised land'.

The Indian security forces are back in action at Kashmir, with a vengeance, killing and blinding the Kashmiri youth who took up rocks and arms against the Indian occupation. The Indian security forces moves as such are only backfiring with a visible mass uprising against the Indian high handedness. The disenfranchised Kashmiri youth have got a death wish. The fidayeen suicide attacks in Indian occupied Kashmir is a new trend in that region fuelled by decades of Indian apartheid which provided motivation for such attacks.

All the while the Pakistan Army is not backing down on the line of control, where Indian tried to bully it by a fabricated 'surgical strike drama', only to be backfired bringing humiliation to India. The Pakistan Army is firing back at the Indian forces with equal audacity and more. The Indians are finding no place safe to walk with their heads high, all across Kashmir. The Indian Army is visibly desperate, as proved most recently when in addition to killing the innocent civilians on the Pakistani line of control they fired directly at the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan, who were monitoring the situation after alerting the Indian Army of their activity.

The indigenous Kashmiri freedom struggle will only grow in its nature and intensity on both political and military front under the established circumstances. India has already begun to loose the war it is waging in Kashmir. Its only a matter of time, before India will be brought to its senses.             

Dynamics of Pakistan-Russia Nexus

Pakistan is wooing Russia harder than ever. The most recent speech by the Pakistani foreign minister in the national parliament giving policy statements regards not playing as an American pawn any more is a step in that direction. Pakistan is eagerly mending fences with Moscow which, it estranged four decades ago in association with the USA, fighting a war which torn apart the USSR. Knowing the Russians don't forget easily, Pakistanis are willing to take what all it does to cosy up with the Russians and forge an alliance based on genuine interests with an appeal arising from 'heart to heart', making the Russians go beyond the formalities and warm up to Islamabad.

Pakistanis trusted Chinese financiers and friends are all but on board. The great game is being replayed, with the war torn Afghanistan still as its board. Old friends are now foes and vice versa. The major hurdle in this bilateral relationship between Russia and Pakistan was the staunch opposition by India, which 'was' the biggest arms buyer of Russia. But with India embracing the USA and chartering the Indo-Us alliance, Russians are finally getting out of the Indian pressure tactics and are warming up to Pakistan.

The practical manifestation of the Russian intentions and on ground vital visibility of growing Pak-Russo alliance took to shape quite recently. Moscow, in an irreversible move, stabbing India rite in the heart, put a show where the Pakistani Baloch separatist leaders living in Moscow since decades on political asylum were made to take a take a U-turn on Anti Pakistani federation movement. They announced to support the Pakistani state in its efforts to develop Pakistan in accordance with the Chinese CPEC/OBOR plan which pivots around the Pakistani province of Baluchistan. These ex separatist leaders shunned the Indian role in de-stabilising Pakistan and vowed to work with the Pakistani federation. It binned six decades of Indian intelligence efforts in which huge amounts of funds were invested.

All the signs are visible on ground as to what direction this alliance is going. It is all but bad news for the Indo-US interests in the mineral rich Central Asian region. The US troops surge in Afghanistan announced by President Trump won't help the US led western designs with India on board, but will only provide more targets to the Taliban in Afghanistan to hit at. The rise of ISIS in Afghanistan and their confrontation with the Taliban over grasping power can be seen in that context as a US intelligence effort to kill two birds with one stone. US is looking or hoping to contain both Russia and Taliban in Afghanistan by ISIS, a force, which was anyways created by the US/Israeli actions in the middle east. However, the Russians saw it coming beforehand and established intelligence ties with the Afghan Taliban utilising the age old Pakistani connections. The Russians have learned their lesson well after the breakage of USSR to had been caught unaware this time around. While the Pakistanis are experienced in playing this diabolical game like Russia, making it a natural alliance.

What the US led camp refuses to appreciate playing this great game is the geo-strategic realities on ground in Afghanistan. The land locked country is bordered by opposing players with different national interests then those of Washington/Western camp. Till such time, the US camp remain stubborn to the idea of power sharing in the region, unfortunately the game will be continued to be played at the cost of blood and misery of the innocent.