US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s exasperated response to testy questioning by Pakistan journalists on Friday of America’s bad faith with that country needs to be viewed in the broader context of her three-day first official visit to Pakistan. The visit has been described in diplomatic language as ‘turbulent’. Clinton was not so much upbraiding Pakistan’s security establishment for failing to track down al Qaeda leaders in hiding somewhere in the country since 2002 but pointing to the basic problem — Pakistan has wittingly or not become a haven for terrorist organisation like Qaeda and therefore the necessity to be part of the war against terror. Clinton faced a barrage of critical questions in her interaction with students at Government College, Lahore on Thursday. Pakistan’s civil society is quite angry with the Americans for pushing Pakistan into the deadly war against Islamic terrorism which they perceive to be an essentially American war.
From being an exchange of polite inanities, it became an unintended drama, with the baring ofbruised hearts and frayed tempers. The pain of being betrayed by the US after the Soviet troops pulled out of Afghanistan in the late 1980s is deeply ingrained in popular Pakistan consciousness. The transition from when Pakistan was a willing American client state during the placid Cold War era to an unwilling partner in the war against terror since catastrophic 9/11 terror attacks has been traumatic.
Commentators have felt that Clinton’s sharp riposte could be disastrous. But the airing of grievances on both sides should help clear the air a bit. The Americans will have to realise that billions of dollars of aid will not win them friends in Pakistan and that they are indeed unwelcome guests. At the same time, Clinton’s remarks should make it clear to angry Pakistanis that terrorism is not just America’s headache but theirs as well. Clinton clearly told her public interlocutors that Pakistan was losing territory and influence to the Islamic terrorists and that it is therefore incumbent on their government to stand up and fight against the extremists. This frank exchange should take Pakistan-US relations to a slightly mature level.
There is no comfort that India would want to draw from this lovers’ quarrel. Pakistan and the US are old allies. Whatever the irritation and provocation, the two are symbiotically bound in the deadly war against terrorism. They have no option but to fight the war against terror together.
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