A U.S. soldier during a firefight near Sirkankel, Afghanistan, March 2002
Pakistan is a country with a long history of going back on its words and playing double games with its partners, over the years the most prominent example of this is in Afghanistan where Pakistan claimed to support The United States and its allies in its War on terror, but its intelligence has been supporting and providing a safe haven to Taliban and the many Islamic terrorists mainly Al-Qaeda. This is a gross violation of trust between the two countries Pakistan and The USA. This breach of trust made it difficult to finish off Al-Qaeda and prolonged the war on terror, which in hindsight cost the United States $20 Trillion. To Understand why Pakistan committed treachery though not a new thing we have to go back in History to understand the timeline
Timeline
On August 15 1947 India finally became Independent from 2 centuries of British rule and on 14th August Pakistan a new country came into existence that shares a long border. On 24th December the Soviet Union decided to invade Afghanistan to increase its influence all over the Middle East and also to counter the American Influence in Asia. To counter the Soviet Union, The United States opted to use proxies as it was too tired to fight another war with a rival Superpower a mere 39 years after the Second World War which had devastated many countries hence the US chose Pakistan as its main ally in South Asia through whom it would smuggle Weapons, Mujahideen fighters, and money to create an insurgency which would bog down the Soviet Union. The US chose Pakistan as its staging ground for the recruitment and training of Mujahideen fighters and Islamic extremism to appease the fundamentalist, after 10 years of the Soviet Union being unable to control the entirety of Afghanistan it decide to return as the war had crippled its economy, but the war had an unintended consequence for America as it had supported a country which became entirely dependant on American foreign aid and had no actual skills that its workforce could use and contribute to the nation economy, the only thing the people of Pakistan knew was how to operate a gun and were well versed in Guerilla tactics. This overdependence on American Foreign aid indirectly gave rise to Islamic fundamentalism and extremism Pakistan saw an Increase in suicide bombings in its bordering areas with Afghanistan and soon started to lose control of administering these areas effectively. The Mujahideen which used to fight against the Soviets were now fighting among themselves to retain power and control the country. In 2001 Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the 9/ll attacks on the World Trade Center The US was furious after it found out that the Taliban was Sheltering Al-Qaeda and asked the Taliban government to give them up but when they refused the United States invaded Afghanistan vowing to destroy Taliban and Al-Qaeda assuming they were in cahoots. They ran an intense aerial campaign and bombed all the strategic bases of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban and toppled the Government. The top leadership of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fled to Pakistan and took refuge in the border areas where they had public support as years of propaganda against the Soviets had given rise to generations of fundamentalists and extremists. The US unaware of this continued to hunt down Al-Qaeda and bomb Afghanistan until much of the infrastructure was destroyed this led to abject poverty and forced the common man to join the Taliban or Al-Qaeda as they had ample funds from international sympathizers including the Pakistani Government who used to provide them with shelter, weapons, and money. this influx of extremists caused an upsurge in terror attacks on Pakistani soil which claimed thousands of Pakistani lives but despite the obvious loss of life Pakistan continued to support the terrorists as they thought since India supported the Pro-us Afghan government they could use these terror groups to act as a counterweight against Indian Influence in Afghanistan and also mine the resources in the region which was controlled by Taliban. When America conducted an operation in Pakistan and eliminated Osama Bin Laden the American public was under the impression that it was a joint mission but the Government was furious as Pakistan had hidden Osama Bin Laden for many years away from the eyes of the Americans and since Pakistan could not officially retaliate because if they do so they would lose their funding America stayed in Afghanistan and started conducting indiscriminate drone strikes to dismantle the leadership structure of Taliban and A Qaeda and went as far as conducting strikes inside Pakistani territory, completely ignoring the government of Pakistan.
The Pakistani government has repeatedly protested against drone strikes, saying they kill civilians and are a violation of the country’s sovereignty.
Consequences of Pakistan’s Double Game
Pakistan’s double game has created instability in the region and created a breeding ground for terrorists, extremists, and fundamentalists who have targetted innocent civilians in the area they operate, Pakistan once even started a new Insurgency in Kashmir under Indian control to claimed it as its own and after the Mujahideen were not needed anymore by the US after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan Pakistan rerouted them to Indian Kashmir to wreak Havoc and wage asymmetric warfare against India as it could not win in a conventional war. But the cost born by Pakistan for harboring rabid extremists and fundamentalists is very high and has denied development in the region where these groups operate and the common man has to suffer because of the government’s jealousy and greed for American Foreign aid and Kashmir.
