The man who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square was a Pakistani. Why is this unsurprising? Answer: because when you hold a burning match to a gasoline tank, the laws of chemistry demand combustion.
As anti-American lava spews from the fiery volcanoes of Pakistans private television channels and newspapers, collective psychosis grips the countrys youth. Murderous intent follows with the conviction that the US is responsible for all ills, both in Pakistan and the world of Islam.
Faisal Shahzad, with designer sunglasses and an MBA degree from the University of Bridgeport, acquired that murderous intent. Living his formative years in Karachi, he typifies the young Pakistani who grew up in the shadow of Zia-ul-Haqs hate-based education curriculum.
The son of a retired Air Vice-Marshal, life was easy as was getting US citizenship subsequently. But at some point the toxic schooling and media tutoring must have kicked in. Guilt may have overpowered him as he saw pictures of Gaza’s dead children and held US support for Israel responsible. Then a little internet browsing, or perhaps the local mosque, steered him towards the idea of an Islamic caliphate. The solution to the worlds problems would require, of course, the US to be damaged and destroyed. Hence Shahzad’s self-confessed trip to Waziristan.
Ideas considered extreme a decade ago are now mainstream. A private survey carried out by a European embassy based in Islamabad found that only 4% of Pakistanis polled speak well of America, 96% against. Although Pakistan and the US are formal allies, in the public perception the US has ousted India as Pakistans number one enemy.
Remarkably, anti-US sentiment rises in proportion to aid received. Say one good word about the US, and you are automatically labeled as its agent. From what popular TV anchors had to say about it, Kerry-Lugars $7.5 billion may well have been money that the US wants to steal from Pakistan rather than give to it.
Pakistan is certainly not the worlds only country where America is unpopular. In pursuit of its self-interest, wealth and security, the US has waged illegal wars, bribed, bullied and overthrown governments, supported tyrants and military governments, and undermined movements for progressive change.
But paradoxically the US is disliked far more in Pakistan than in countries which have born the direct brunt of American attacks – Cuba, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Why?
Drone strikes are a common but false explanation. Foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi implicitly justified the Times Square bombing as retaliation. But this simply does not bear up. Drone attacks have killed some innocents, but they have devastated militant operations in Waziristan while causing far less collateral damage than Pakistan Army operations. On the other hand, the cities of Hanoi and Haiphong were carpet-bombed by B-52 bombers and Vietnam’s jungles were defoliated with Agent Orange, the ffects of which persist even today. Yet, Vietnam never developed deep visceral feelings like those in Pakistan.
Finding truer reasons requires deeper digging. In part, Pakistan displays the resentment and self-loathing of a client state for its paymaster. US-Pakistan relations are frankly transactional today, but the master-client relationship is older. Indeed, Pakistan chose this path because confronting India over Kashmir demanded heavy militarization and big defense budgets. So, in the 1960s, Pakistan willingly entered into the SEATO and CENTO military pacts, and was proud to be called ‘Americas most allied ally’. The Pakistan Army became the most powerful, well-equipped and well-organized institution in the country. This also put Pakistan on the external dole, a price that Pakistan has paid for its Indo-centrism.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, even as it brought in windfall profits, deepened the dependence. Paid by the US to create the anti-Soviet jihadist apparatus, Pakistan is now being paid again to fight that war’s blow-back. Pakistan then entered George W. Bush’s war on terror to enhance America’s security – a fact that further hurt self-esteem. It is a separate matter that Pakistan fights that very war for its own survival, and must call upon its army to protect the population from throat-slitting, hand-chopping, girl-whipping fanatics.
Passing the buck is equally fundamental to Pakistan’s anti-Americanism. It is in human nature to blame others for one’s own failures. Pakistan has long teetered between being a failed state and a failing state. The rich won’t pay taxes? Little electricity? Sewage-contaminated drinking water? Population out of control? Kashmir unsolved? Just blame it on the Americans. This phenomenon exists elsewhere too. For example, one recently saw the amazing spectacle of Hamid Karzai threatening to join the Taliban and lashing out against Americans because they (probably correctly) suggested he committed electoral fraud.
Tragically for Pakistan, anti-Americanism plays squarely into the hands of Islamic militants. They vigorously promote the notion of an Islam-West war when, in fact, they actually wage armed struggle to remake society. They will keep fighting this war even if America were to miraculously evaporate into space. Created by poverty, a war-culture, and the macabre manipulations of Pakistan’s intelligence services, they seek a total transformation of society. This means eliminating music, art, entertainment, and all manifestations of modernity. Side goals include chasing away the few surviving native Christians, Sikhs, and Hindus.
At a time when the country needs clarity of thought to successfully fight extremism, simple bipolar explanations are inadequate. The moralistic question ‘Is America good or bad?’ is futile. There is little doubt that the US has committed acts of aggression as in Iraq, worsened the Palestine problem, and maintains the world’s largest military machine. We also know that it will make a deal with the Taliban if perceived to be in America’s self-interest, and it will do so even if that means abandoning Afghans to blood-thirsty fanatics.
Yet, it would be wrong to scorn the humanitarian impulse behind US assistance in times of desperation. Shall we simply write off massive US assistance to Pakistan at the time of the dreadful earthquake of 2005? Or to tsunami affected countries in 2004 and to Haiti in 2010? In truth, the US is no more selfish or altruistic than any other country of the world. And it treats its Muslim citizens infinitely better than we treat non-Muslims in Pakistan.
Instead of pronouncing moral judgments on everything and anything, we Pakistanis need to reaffirm what is truly important for our people: peace, economic justice, good governance, rule of law, accountability of rulers, women’s rights, and rationality in human affairs. Washington must be firmly resisted, but only when it seeks to drag Pakistan away from these goals.
More frenzied anti-Americanism will only produce more Faisal Shahzads.
The author teaches at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad. This article was also published in Dawn.
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@Bangash
You have it wrong.
Tell me names of more than three American Civilians who have died at the hands of Pakistani terrorists. Those who have been dying have been hundreds and hundreds of Pakistanis. These idiot terrorists are mostly killing Pakistanis, not Americans.
I am delighted and happy that those three terrorists have been killed by the drones. But the innocent civilians who have been killed are far far more. Unless you are saying it is all right to kill these civilians to get at a few terrorists, there has to be a better way to get to them. Otherwise, the logic of the terrorists would also start making sense. That I cannot accept.
@Irfan Asim
I will tell you the number of Pakistani terrorists killed by drones……at least 3….Baitullah Mehsud, Haji Omar and Nek Mohammed. These terrorists used to boast about their murders of Pakistanis that they had committed, but I don’t think that matters to you. Only when America eliminates these terrorists, you speak up.
Your figure of only 3 Americans killed by Pakistanis is wrong, not just Americans but the number of foreigners killed in Pakistan in last 10 years is very high and includes Americans, Chinese, French, Turkish, British and Japanese. Shame on you.
Yes, the problem of hatred for America is eating Pakistan from the inside. Just like the problem of Americans hating Pakistan is eating America from the inside.
How many American civilians have died at the hands of Pakistani terrorists in the last 10 years (including 9/11)?
3. Yes, Three.
How many Pakistani civilians have died at the hands of American government drones in the last 10 months?
You tell me?