May 21, 2007
The Talibanisation of Pakistan
Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s north-west frontier province, is a depressing place to visit at the moment. Islamic militancy and violence are spilling over the border from Afghanistan. Suicide bombings used to be unknown in Peshawar. But there have been 16 since September. A bombing in January killed the local police chief, who had been cracking down on militants. Another bombing last week blew up a local hotel and killed about 24 people. This is following the pattern of Afghanistan itself. Suicide bombings did not happen there until 2005. Now they are a deadly, weekly occurrence in Afghanistan, and have spilled across the border into Pakistan.
The phrase "climate of fear" is a cliche. But it is an accurate description of the current mood in Peshawar. The American consultate - the last major western diplomatic representation in the city - is surrounded by Green-Zone style fortifications. Moderate Muslims are intimidated. Threats have been made to shops selling CDs, barbers who have the temerity to cut mens’ beards and to girls’ schools.
The threat of a "Talibanisation" of Pakistan is by no means confined to Peshawar. There is currently a dangerous stand-off in Islamabad, where a radical mosque - associated with suicide bombers - has kidnapped some policemen. And things are much worse in the wilder fringes of the country. Last week I met local journalists who said that it is now just too dangerous for them to travel freely in the tribal regions like Waziristan. This too is a relatively new development. The reporters who I spoke to say that as recently as last year they were prepared to risk it.
One of the sadder aspects of the whole situation is the extent to which the moderate majority are intimidated by the threat of militant violence. In Peshawar last Friday I went to a seminar on American foreign policy, at the local university. As one might have anticipated the criticism was pretty strong. But, beneath the surface, there was also clearly many students who are very frightened by their local militants. (In the audience, I would say there were about 30 female students - two were unveiled. Of the rest, about half wore a hijab - a veil covering their hair, and the other half had the niqab - a full-face covering, leaving just a space for the eyes.) After the seminar one of the students came up to me and said: "I’m a moderate. I don’t have a beard. But if things go on like this in Peshawar, my family could end up being driven out or killed."
Locals now talk about the "Pakistani Taliban". In other words, this is no longer an Afghan phenomenon that has just spilled over the border. There is now a powerful local version of the Taliban.
Some Pakistanis are inclined to blame the Americans for all this - tracing the rise of local militancy to the US decision to sponsor jihadis in the first Afghan war. There is an element of truth in that. But it evades Pakistan’s own responsibility for creating the monster of the Taliban. The Pakistanis were so obsessed with having a pliant, anti-Indian government in charge of Afghanistan (the policy known as "strategic depth") that they were prepared to get into bed with the Taliban. Even now, it seems pretty certain that elements of the Pakistani secret service are working with the remnants of the Taliban.
The twisted thinking behind this is (allegedly) that a successful Karzai government is likely to move determinedly into the pro-American, pro-Indian camp. By contrast, a continuing insurgency in Afghanistan will keep the country weak and a war on Pakistan’s borders keeps the money flowing to the Pakistani military. What is more, the Pakistani establishment do not believe the Americans and their allies are committed to Afghanistan for the long haul. If and when they withdraw, the Taliban may take over again. So it is a good idea to keep in with them.
If this kind of thinking really is still alive in parts of the Pakistani government, it is insane. The Taliban are the ideological antithesis of what Pakistan is and should be. Encouraging them in Afghanistan and - as a result - in Pakistan, would be a suicidal policy. For all its many problems, Pakistan is a modern country, which is politically and economically integrated with the rest of the world. All the Taliban offer is a violent trip back to the Middle Ages.
Dear Mr. Rachman,
imho Your analysis of the situation is entirely correct. The “blowback” that the Pakistanis and the Americans have felt, and shall feel for some time to come, from Al Qaeda and the Taliban is the direct result of their short-sighted strategy of “my enemy’s enemy” in Afghanistan which, as a Pakistani contributor to the last thread pointed out, overthrew a pretty progressive (albeit pro Soviet) regime in Kabul in favour of the most incredibly backward people imaginable.
The trouble is that similar mistakes are still being made today, the 600 pound gorilla being the Saudi regime that is so beloved by the Texan oilmen around Dubya and so assiduously propped up by Washington. Similar considerations apply to the support given to the Persian Gulf’s Arab statelets and the corrupt, repressive governments in Egypt, Morocco and Jordan and the Fatah faction in the Palestinian Bantustan.
In the Saudi and many of the Gulf states’ case, they directly support and finance obscurantism whilst and in the case of the others, the corruption and repression and the absence of any alternatives simply drives masses towards the simplistic but righteous-sounding Islamist message.
The solution? Oh it is so simple. TRUST THE PEOPLE. Let there be real elections in the region. Do not support the thuggery of the monarchs and the life presidents. Do not be afraid of the Islamists winning power. They will either adapt to the exigencies and compromises needed by statecraft or will be overthrown by the same people. The more people are deprived of their rights (and treated as children that are too immature to take charge of their destinies), the worse things will get in the region. There will be short-term pain but that is as nothing compared to the long-term disaster of letting the present policies continue to stunt the maturity of the Middle Eastern polity.
Posted by: Pacifist | May 21st, 2007 at 3:32 pm | Report this commentI wonder what America does about it?? Does it help in any way to moderates?? I know it gives lots of money to Pakistani army, but does it help to build secular schools??
Posted by: Chen | May 21st, 2007 at 3:47 pm | Report this commentIf some of Pakistani areas are lawless, then they are not sovereign. If US intervenes possibly militarily Pakistan cannot say ‘It is our territory, our sovereignty, we will deal with it’. Lawless areas in Pakistan are not pakistani, they are no one’s.
Either Bush or the next president must take some serious steps about it.
But whatever America might do, muslims around the World might say ‘They are attacking our independence. We can solve our problems on our own’. America shouldn’t take these arguements seriously anymore.
Islamist extremists kill others and are considered heroes for that. Moderate muslims do not kill or do any other violent thing. The World must help them, including tough measures vs extremists.
Pakistan is not an independent country. It is a hostage of extremists.
Hi Chen,
Given America’s present difficulties in Iraq, I’d say the chances of direct military intervention is pretty remote. After all Pakistan’s poulation is 6 times that of Iraq and its land mass nearly twice Iraq’s.
Moreover, Iraq has the second largest oil resources in the area (which, at the very least, were part of the incentive to invade), whereas Pakistan hasn’t got any such mouth-watering resources for the US to gobble up.
What America and the West could do is to stop propping up one military dictator after another and, instead, support the development of the civil society and education for the masses.
(Virtually all the well-educated Pakistanis I met in London had been to one of the two elite schools. A really pitiful basis for having a vibrant, meritocratic and prosperous society. People send their kids to Madrassah’s because they have grown to fill the void left by the inadequate provision of education by the state. Is it a wonder that some of them end up getting indoctrinated?
P
Posted by: Pacifist | May 21st, 2007 at 5:15 pm | Report this comment>>>Pakistan is not an independent country. It is a hostage of extrmists<<<
IMO: Pakistan is a hostage of extremists with a stiff dose of stockholm syndrome. It is also -by its own admission- a friend of America, though subject to the restrictions of being a ‘hostage’, though it is still a friend of America’s but …[you get it]…hostage… stockholm syndrome…. terrorist…but ally…wannabe progressive but Talibanised!
Wonder which aspect will ultimately dominate this country’s psychotic personality?!!
Posted by: Gesundheit | May 21st, 2007 at 5:58 pm | Report this commentIt is unfortunate to see people commenting on an area they have little knowledge about.
Pakistan was created as an Islamic republic, Infact was the only country, other then Israel, which was created in the name of religion.
Now the government is trying to distance itself from the religious circles calling them fundamentalists whereas the very same people were the front forces for its affiars in Afghanistan with the support of Americans to ouster the mighty Red army.
These people, who ask others to follow religion being targetted for that … its hard to get a religious publication done then a porno magazine in Pakistan today.
The Education minister, a former General & head of ISI, in his televised interview claimed to have read 40 chapters from the holy book Quran, whereas in reality there are only 30.
The tourism minister, a lady senator from the ruling party, had to resign recently due to publication of her pictures higging her diving instructr in France.
The minsters of religious affairs are all clean-shaven, where the beard is an a must part in both Sunni & Shia school of thought.
The support for Taliban is very much a reality in all corners of Pakistan just like the growing support for Jihadist (fighting West) in the muslim world.
I suggest people should read about Islam, before pointing fingers and accusing it for terrorism.
Posted by: Hasan Zuberi | May 22nd, 2007 at 10:48 am | Report this comment“It is unfortunate to see people commenting on an area they have little knowledge about.”
Oh my that’s a nice start to an argument! no-one but, by implication, yourself knows much. Hence, everyone else must be wrong! Oldest trick in the book of debates!
As for your other anecdotes… what’s your point?? My personal pysician smokes cigarettes! My mechanic has car problems! My employer hires illegal immigrants! Citing a bunch of contradictions hardly suffices as an argument!
“I suggest people should read about Islam, before pointing fingers and accusing it for terrorism”
And I suggest you get to know more about the rest of the world, because the terrorism that comes out of innocent-little-Pakistan affects the wider world quite a bit.
Posted by: Gesundheit | May 22nd, 2007 at 8:08 pm | Report this commentI agree with Gesundheit. Pakistani population should get to know the rest of the World more. When I went there last time I heard the following arguement ‘US invaded middle east so that their currency becomes cheap and oil becomes cheaper in terms of dollar’. In reality what has happened is dollar had fallen to new lows, prices have risen.
Intelligent pakistanis explain it like that ‘because they are poor, they are uneducated, its not really their fault’. Why don’t people get their children educated instead of teaching them how to farm at the age of 10 and have 7 children per family?? If you have 2 children not 7, it is easier to give them education.
The uneducatedeness of pakistani population affects the whole World. No british or american thinks of pakistani people as bad and evil (if someone does, it is 0.0001% of the population or less). But many pakistanis everyday claim ‘Death to America, death to Britain, death to Israel’. My friend from Pakistan told me that in Pakistan people put american flag on the road so that you drive through it. If there are educated pakistanis and want to improve their nation, it is they who should help their nation to improve itself instead of blaming others and explaining why bad things happen there.
I agree America should help Pakistan with money for education etc (which it does and Clinton Global Intiative is strongly reccomending), but first Pakistanis must make sure this money is spent wisely, on schools that teach children knowledge not hatred. In Palestine road sponsored by US AID is named after Saddam Hussein, the dictator who killed about 100000 opponents (majority of whom were muslims).
Posted by: Chen | May 23rd, 2007 at 12:24 am | Report this comment‘I suggest people should read about Islam, before pointing fingers and accusing it for terrorism’. Trust me, many people in the West read LOTS of books about Islam by many various authors to understand extremism, whilst less than 1% of pakistanis done some research about the west. We visit lots of talks by muslim scholars who try to tell about their religion, we visit various debates.
I doubt many people in Pakistan know the current size of US current account deficit or the state of its housing market.
The last line of the blog… for all its problem Pakistan is a modern country which is politically and economically integrated….. read much like the health warning on cigarretes.. smoking is injurious to health!!
i wonder why most FT articles paint such negative picture of Pakistan. Anyone who is living in Pakistan would certainly laugh at these alarming images of talibanization painted by the respected authors.
Every country has its stock of problems. In london 18 teenagers have been murdered by stabbing by other teen gangs, since january. I have never heard of teanagers randomly stalking the roads and stabbing other youth at night in islamabad..
I just feel quite disturbed to see tainted image of the reality.
Posted by: Ali Farid | May 23rd, 2007 at 7:31 am | Report this commentJust so that there is no doubt that Americans continue to support terrorist activities perpetrated from Pakistani bases, please consider the following item:
http://www.campaigniran.org/casmii/index.php?q=node/2208
Quote
As earlier reported on the Blotter on ABCNews.com, the United States has supported and encouraged an Iranian militant group, Jundullah, that has conducted deadly raids inside Iran from bases on the rugged Iran-Pakistan-Afghanistan “tri-border region.”
U.S. officials deny any “direct funding” of Jundullah groups but say the leader of Jundullah was in regular contact with U.S. officials.
American intelligence sources say Jundullah has received money and weapons through the Afghanistan and Pakistan military and Pakistan’s intelligence service. Pakistan has officially denied any connection.
A report broadcast on Iranian TV last Sunday said Iranian authorities had captured 10 men crossing the border with $500,000 in cash along with “maps of sensitive areas” and “modern spy equipment.”
A senior Pakistani official told ABCNews.com the 10 men were members of Jundullah.
The leader of the Jundullah group, according to the Pakistani official, has been recruiting and training “hundreds of men” for “unspecified missions” across the border in Iran.
Unquote
It seems that the Americans have learned nothing from the past.
P
Posted by: Pacifist | May 23rd, 2007 at 12:57 pm | Report this comment“It seems that the Americans have learned nothing from the past”
Dude, this blog is about [scroll to the top] “Talibanization of Pakistan.”
So, while I agree Americans have lot of soul searching to do, that is whole different topic. Meanwhile, try to stay focused on the issue will ya? I know blaming others, finding scapegoats, looking for understanding (tea) and sympathy is a favorite Pakistani national passtime… but… make an effort… its not so hard… stay focused!
Posted by: Gesundheit | May 23rd, 2007 at 8:00 pm | Report this commentAli Farid says… “every country has its stock of problems…”
Maybe so, but this blog is about Pakistan’s problems so stay focused …if you can summon your brain cells, and your logical stream of reasoning to do so!
You want to discuss knifings in britain or shootings in US, or alcoholism in Russia, or starvation in africa or dowry deaths in India… please do so in other blogs. And certainly do not use these arguments to fool yourself into believing that other countries’ problems mean pakistan’s issues are not so bad afterall!
Posted by: Gesundheit | May 23rd, 2007 at 8:16 pm | Report this commentTo Gesundheit:
1-) I am not a Pakistani
2-) To ignore the Americans’ role in the original rise of the Taliban is folly, as is their mistakes in propping up Musharraf (see Mr. Rachman’s latest article).
3-) Try to get beyond your hatred of Pakistanis and think about cause and effect. Colonial powers have always been very significant in the Indian sub-continent.
P
Posted by: Pacifist | May 24th, 2007 at 10:36 am | Report this commentGideon Rachman (and Gesundheit, probably one and same person), are not to be blamed. He is an apologist for colonialism. Over the past centuries there were many people who blamed the victims of colonial policies for their own suffering. The ‘natives’ were uncivilized, therefore we are taking over their country. Killing a few million of them is for their own good. Britain practiced this for 500 years in America, Africa, India, China, and elsewhere. America took over in the 20th century with a gusto in Vietnam, Cambodia, Central America, Phillipines, Japan, Iraq, Afghanistan. The apologists for colonialism in each age/century explain endlessly that ‘its good for the natives’….we are civilizing them…they are terrorists’. The apologists of-course are small minded individuals and nothing better can be expected of them. I am amazed that Mr Rachman (who clearly is a neocon himself) is bashing Pakistan, who has been a staunch US ally for 50 years. Taliban were as much a US creation in the fight against the Soviets. I believe that my country has much better thought leaders, and people like Jimmy Carter are to be applauded for calling a spade a spade. Senator Robert Byrd made the following speech in the Senate on March 17, 2007:
“We need to conclude this terrible, awful mistake that we have made in Iraq. I said in the beginning that we ought not go into Iraq. But we are there. Anti-Americanism is more robust now than in any period in our history because of Iraq. Do you hear that? The international community is skeptical — why should they not be? They are skeptical of U.S. intentions because of Iraq. Our Constitution has been trampled — hear that. Our Constitution has been trampled because of Iraq. Thousands of U.S. troops and Iraqi citizens have lost their lives because of Iraq. Thousands more are maimed physically or mentally because of Iraq. Billions of U.S. dollars have been wasted because of Iraq.
Posted by: Enlightened American | May 24th, 2007 at 4:55 pm | Report this commentPresident Bush has lost all credibility. President Bush, our President, has lost all — all — credibility because of Iraq.
Terrorism is on the rise worldwide because of Iraq. May God grant this Congress — that is, us — may God grant this Congress the courage to come together and answer the cries of a majority of the people who sent us here. Find a way to end this horrible catastrophe, this unspeakable — unspeakable — ongoing calamity called Iraq. May God help us in the United States”.
I agree that America played a direct role in instigating an intolerant and fundamentalist creed of islam through its support for the mujahideen. However, it had a far more indirect role in ‘propping up’ the Taliban. Ya, Khalizad talked about pipelines and all (remember Unocal?), but the rise to power of the Taliban was a result of the Pakistanis (esp ISI) switching support from Hekmatyar and company to Mullah Omar and his boyz, and all this was happening amidst benign US neglect, and active Saudi monetary and ideological support (including of public arm & head chopping). America, during this time, was rolling in the go-go clinton days of the dotcom boom, and engrossed with monica lewinsky and ken starr and stained dresses and far less interested in a little known weird group called Al Qaeda backed by an equally pol-pot like bizarre outfit called Taliban. I readily agree that was a mistake. Yes benign neglect can come back to haunt you.
But why are Pakistanis so hell bent on defeating India in Kashmir, and the Russians in Chechnya, and the Serbs in Bosnia, and the Filipinos in Moros. and the Northern Alliance in the northern Afghanistan? The bradford riots and racial tensions in the UK started much before 9-11! Has a single Pakistani government expressed an iota of regret for the 500,000 to 1,000,000 Bengalis they killed in erstwhile East Pakistan?
Successive Pakistani government’s have taken recourse to violence either directly or indirectly at the drop of a hat. In its entire independent history the islamic republic has not once experienced a peaceful or constitional change of government. Does this not say something about the country’s leadership and its political class? Does this not say something about adherence to (or lack thereof) to rule of law and respect for other peoples sovereignty and human rights.
The point I keep hammering away at is that Pakistanis refuse to admit -unreservedly- that they may have been wrong. Its -all the time- someone else’s equal or greater fault.
The clearst and funniest example of this was when Musharraf was in the US a year or 2 ago. At that time, when asked about Mukhtar Mai and some other hapless woman in Baluchistan (who was raped and had to flee the country with her husband) — he replied something along the lines of… some ppl deliberately get raped to get foreign visas! This was roundly criticized even by the Pakistani community in the US, who were then told that they were going against the -get this- ‘national interest!!’
And this blog is itself is wholesomely replete with: … so what similar things happen here or there, ergo Pakistan is not so bad. Or this is all America’s fault, so Pakistan cannot be asked to apologize or bear any reponsibility!
My contention remains– So long as a country’s citizens don’t even readily acknowledge they have a problem on their hands — they are going to be unable to even beging to resolve it.
This is a formidable barrier in the history of any country. But the Japanese overcame it during te meiji restoration, the Chinese with Deng Xiaoping (who reversed plicies after the cultural revolution), the indians are going thru their own slow motion version of social & economic reforms, ever deeper democratization and empowerment of disadvantaged groups.
But anyways, this is going all over the place. My question to any pakistan is this — do you or do you not recognize and acknowledge that in the last 15-20 years your country has comitted some terrible strategic mistakes. If you hem and haw then no solution can even begun to be felt like it is in sight. OTOH if you, even if reluctantly, but unabashedly admit your faults then you atleast beging to know about the basic one or two things that can and ought to set straight.
As for all the angst about Ameica’s mistakes in Iraq. Yes, enlightened American — I share your worry. And am the first to worry, that this error of foreign policy foresight is going to come back to haunt america far more egregiously than even the period of ‘benign neglect’ of Pakistan in the early 1990s. But that IS a diferent topic, and I shall deal with it on its own merits, and have no intention of muddling it up with Pakistan’s intrinsic shortcomings.
Cheers,
Gesundheit
Posted by: Gesundheit | May 24th, 2007 at 8:17 pm | Report this commentquote ” why are the pakistanis hell bent in defeating India in Kashmir, russia in chechniya, and the serbs in Bosinia, and the Fillipinos in Moros, and the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan”
.. did you forget israel in Palestine or was that an deliberate miss. just curious since you listed most, if not all political problems in the globe.
If pakistan was indeed hell bent in such an agenda.. i wonder what the UN would do, clearly not just Pakistan (if indeed it is involved in any way) but the whole world has a moral duty to protect peace, stability and freedom in places like Bosinia, Chechniya, Dafur, Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ah but only if the world was fair… but if that were so we wouldnt be discussing on this blog, would be Gesundheit.
Posted by: Ali Farid | May 25th, 2007 at 7:43 am | Report this commentFarid, Ya i did forget Israel, thanks for pointing out. The point is — why on earth is poor little pakistan bearing the world’s conscience in selective causes and rushing off to do battle? It certainly has no hope in hell to substitute UN roles and mandates in most of these conflicts… so what on earth does Pakistan want? Nizam-e-mustafa in all these far flung places? And to perniciously link all this to America’s blunders in Iraq and the mid-east at large is not only diversionary, for Pakistan, but also self-destructive.
first port of call of duty is for pakistanis to acknowledge the need for reversing the indefensible brainwashing and acknowledging past mistakes. Or else watch your own country get consumed by the fans of radical islamist fire that it has been trying to fan elsewhere in the world. Hope you’re watching dly developments at the Lal mosque.
And I’m sure, most of the the people here are still saying…’oh so what, british skinheads a knifing each other … so pakistan is not so bad!’
The disconnect between Pakistani hallucinations (at least on this blog) and the reality of the country couldn’t be more stark!
Posted by: Gesundheit | May 25th, 2007 at 8:06 pm | Report this commentThe truth is that in most Muslims countries we are watching and reading that Islamists=Democracy while America=Dictatorship.
If an islamist party wins the Free Elections in Algeria, Turkey or Palestine…the US and Israel support a coup d´etat which ends in a Dictatorship and a Civil War to end with the Governmente elected by the People and for the People.
If the People of Pakistan wants a free press, and an independent judiciary…the US and the UK support a bloody Dictator called Pervez Musharraff.
If polls say that islamists are supported by the majority of the People in Marocco and Egypt…the US and Israel support any kind of limits to the democratic election of Representatives.
That´s the Truth: in most muslims countries Islamist are a mirror of Democracy while the US is a mirror of Dictatorship, Civil War and Genocide.
Posted by: Enrique | May 29th, 2007 at 3:02 am | Report this comment