Peddling fiction as fact about Pakistan

Alleged myth one: “Pakistan is a US ally in the war on terrorism.”

Pakistan, he writes, just follows its own interests. Sometimes it’s helpful and sometimes it isn’t. Fair enough, that’s what allies generally do. But the policy question is: Whether Pakistan is helpful often enough to merit being treated like an ally and given huge amounts of aid. The answer is ‘no’. Neither the question nor the answer is addressed.

Incidentally, it’s pretty outrageous that Lieven suggests that Pakistan supports the Taliban because India is inciting other groups in Afghanistan to seize power. Yet since Pakistan’s policy has been the same for 30 years — it has long supported radical Islamist forces in Afghanistan — how can India be to blame for relatively recent policies? To bash India for Pakistan’s behaviour in Afghanistan is absurd.

If a country supports to a major degree the two groups that attacked America on September 11 — the Taliban and Al Qaeda — plus is a major sponsor of terrorism against India, the answer to question one isn’t ‘sometimes’ but ‘definitely not’!

Alleged myth two: “Pakistan is an ally of the Taliban.”

Again, Lieven turns this into a ‘straw man’ argument. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t, he says. But the real answer is ‘yes’, if one is talking about the Afghan Taliban, which is what the US is mainly concerned about. It is only an enemy of the (Pakistani) Taliban that tries to take over Pakistan. So, again, Pakistan is an ally of the (Afghan) Taliban, the group — along with Al Qaeda — that the US gives it billions of dollars to fight against.

Alleged myth three: “Islamist revolution is coming to Pakistan.”

Why is this a myth? Because, says Lieven, less than one-fifth of Pakistanis view the Taliban favourably in a poll. As if, that’s the only Islamist group! He cites one Pew poll number but other polls and other questions show a remarkably high level of support for Islamism among Pakistanis. Putting such a spin on one item and leaving out others verges, to put it politely, on deliberate dishonesty.

Indeed, a recent Pew poll shows that Pakistanis support Islamism by a whopping 47 to 15 per cent margin. Thus, this argument that Pakistanis don’t want Islamism is a total myth. That’s why Lieven misrepresents the issue to ‘prove’ that Pakistanis don’t want the Taliban’s specific brand of Islamism.

I’m not saying that Pakistan will have a radical Islamist revolution. But it is certainly possible. If Turkey and Egypt can become Islamist, surely Pakistan could do so.

Alleged myth four: “Massive US aid lets Washington dictate Pakistani policy.”

This one really made me angry. Nobody seriously argues such a thing. The real issue is whether the large amount of aid and support the US gives Pakistan provides some American leverage to get Pakistan to do things that the US wants and needs to be done. If this aid does no good at all then it shouldn’t be given in the first place.

The correct formulation is: Does giving Pakistan massive aid provide Washington with any ability at all to have the slightest effect on Pakistani policy. If billions of dollars cannot even get them to help find Osama bin Laden what good are they?

Alleged Myth five: “Pakistan, not Afghanistan, is the front in the war on terrorism.”

The front? I don’t know anyone who says this either. That’s just a phony issue. The real question is: Does Pakistan provide really positive aid in fighting terrorism or not? But if one frames the question in that way the answer is not likely to be in the affirmative, which is presumably why this question isn’t asked.

So what’s the bottom line? The author writes what he’s been setting up for that entire misleading essay: “None of this means that the US should pursue more aggressive policies against Pakistan to win the war on terrorism... Any US action that endangered the stability of the Pakistani Government would be insane.”

In other words, US policy is just fine and there’s no need to change anything. Who cares if they support the Taliban, hide Al Qaeda leaders, and launch terrorist attacks on India? Just keep sending them money and keep giving them support.

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