Funding the Common Enemy
July 7th, 2008 by Wil Robinson
The single-worst suicide bombing in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion in 2001 killed at least 40 people at the Indian Embassy in Kabul. Another 140+ were injured: most of the victims were civilians waiting in line for visas to leave their country that has been torn apart by a growing insurgency.
Of course, the Bush administration “condemned” the attacks, and noted that “the United States stands with the people of Afghanistan and India, as we face this common enemy.”
Sadly, the U.S. is arming and funding the so-called “common enemy.” Pakistan continues to speak out of one side of its mouth about fighting extremism, while the other side is sleeping with the Taliban.
Between 2002 and 2008, the U.S government has given Pakistan more than $1.5 billion in “foreign military financing.” But that only covers the free part of the military package. In 2007, the U.S. sold Pakistan more than $3.5 billion in arms - making Pakistan our biggest weapons trading partner for the year.
Add in another $8.5 billion in foreign aid that allegedly covers counter-narcotics, child health, military training, anti-terrorism funds - the list goes on. The $8.5 billion in free money wouldn’t be so bad if it had been used properly. However, the June 2008 U.S. GAO report showed “widespread accounting irregularities” in money and arms transfer agreements between the Pentagon and Pakistan (among other countries).
Pakistan’s Northwest Territory continues to be a safe haven for the Taliban and Al Qaeda. They have little to show after six years of massive U.S. assistance, other than a president who deposed of Supreme Court justices and imposed martial law in order to validate his ‘re-election.’ The fact is we have no idea how Pakistan is using all that money.
Or at least we didn’t until yesterday. It’s a good bet the explosives used in the Indian Embassy suicide bombing were bought with US dollars. If they were bought with Pakistan rupees, those rupees were only available because the U.S. government was footing the bill for something else.
India, the target of yesterday’s attack, has spent over $750 million for reconstruction in Afghanistan since 2002 (making it the fifth largest donor). That’s no sum to trifle at, especially coming from a country with so many of their own people living in poverty. So today, India is wondering: Why has she been targeted by the Taliban? India has not provided military assistance. They do not represent the ‘infidel West’ that brings a foreign religion into the country. They have not dropped ’smart-bombs’ on villages from unmanned Predator drones and accidentally kill Afghan families in the dead of night.
India is a target because Pakistan’s intelligence service - the ISI - was the perpetrator. Long standing antagonists since Partition in 1947, no other entity stands to gain more than Pakistan from the attack on the Indian Embassy. For years, Pakistan has sought to influence events and politics in Afghanistan while simultaneously thwarting Indian power. Initially Pakistan accomplished this with the help of the U.S. in fending off the Soviets in the 1980s; after the Soviets left and the Western world lost interest, Pakistan had free reign. And now that the West has reemerged in Afghanistan, Pakistan is back to its old tricks, milking American taxpayers and using the money for its own selfish and deluded political aspirations. Including terrorism.
Terrorism is nothing new for Pakistan or the ISI. They have covertly and overtly engaged in acts since the earliest throes of the anti-Soviet jihad in the 80s. To expect them to act any different now is foolish.
Pakistan has repeatedly signed ‘peace deals’ with Taliban elements within its borders, allowing the insurgency in Afghanistan a training ground where it is safe from retaliation. To date, the only people this has harmed has been Afghans and American soldiers. American military personnel are not given the freedom to complain, and no one listens to ordinary Afghans.
But now that India has suffered as a result of misguided U.S.-Pakistan military policy and political alignment, America will not be allowed to chalk this one up to a “common enemy.” India does not have the strategic ability to strike back in the Northwest Territory where Taliban and Pakistani ISI elements hide. India’s retaliation will likely be on another front, widening the so-called ‘war on terror’ to another region and drawing in more innocent victims.
America cannot continue let Pakistan play us as fools and use us for a terrorist ATM machine. The so-called ‘war on terror’ will never end as long as the richest country in the world is funding the “common enemy.”
Tags: Pakistan, Afghanistan, ISI, Afghanistan, India