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Pengumuman Deadly tentacles
Deadly tentacles
HUZAIMA BUKHARI AND DR IKRAMUL HAQ
How has Pakistan become a victim of terrorism? The answer to this question can only be found by studying US foreign policy in which terrorism, drugs, arms and war play a pivotal role. This is not a recent phenomenon. From the early part of the twentieth century, US leaders have been using arms, drugs and war hysteria as tools to advance their foreign policy objectives.
The military interventions by the US and its allies against a number of countries in recent years should be viewed in this perspective. The study of military presence in Afghanistan for the last ten years in the name of fighting "terrorism" (sic) unveils the real motives of the US and its allies. The so-called war against those who were once "great friends", admired as "Mujahideen" [holy warriors] by the US administration, is nothing but part of a Great Game. Its main aim is containment of China using militants in and around Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The New Great Game started in April 1979 when President Carter's National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski pushed through a decision to support the Afghans against the occupant Russian forces. The Carter administration interpreted the Soviet invasion as a threat to vital US interests all over the globe. Securing the co-operation from Saudi Arabia to contain Soviet aggression, the White House decided to support and promote the Jihadi spirit and culture amongst the tribes in Afghanistan and Pakistan and hire mercenaries from other Muslim countries. These mercenaries got an elevated position from low-paid assassins to highly-paid warlords.
The US policy of supporting Afghan resistance, with the help of Ziaul Haq's military regime, produced devastating effects in the aftermath of the disintegration of the USSR. United States and allies managed to achieve their main goal, but left Pakistan and Afghanistan in the doldrums. General Hameed Gul, former head of ISI, in an interview with daily Jang, published in its weekly magazine (14-20 January 2001) admitted that the Afghan Mujahideen failed to capture Kabul after the exit of Russian troops due to reduced supply of arms by the CIA.
He revealed that the CIA was supplying between 4000 to 6000 tons of armament at the peak of war, which was later on reduced to only 100 tons. He also made a number of startling revelations about the CIA-ISI connections during the Afghan war against the Soviet occupation and how some generals made huge fortune by selling the arms meant for the Mujahideen to warlords and even to some Muslim states. Another former ISI Chief, Javed Ashraf Qazi, in an interview to a local Urdu daily in November 2001, defended Pakistan's Afghan Policy of supporting the Afghan rebels and CIA's arms supplies and covert operations.
The arms-drug mafia that emerged during the Afghan resistance persisted and flourished even after the withdrawal of the Red Army from Afghanistan. In 1990 alone, the CIA had $36 billion at its disposal for such operations. The main concern was to fight the Soviet aggression and no one was ready to discuss the ramifications even for the US itself. CIA allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan opened a much larger arms-drug pipeline than in Central America.
In the process they gave an enormous boost to their trafficking intermediaries: powerful syndicates who because of this boom managed to entrench in the United States and numerous other countries around the world. Jack Blum, who investigated Iran-Contra connection for the Kerry sub-committee, calls the Afghanistan drug scandal "one of the biggest uncovered stories in the foreign policy arena. The scale and duration of the connection between drug trafficking, gun running and foreign policy are far larger even than the Central American affairs".
The figures bear him out. The CIA was shipping more than a billion dollars worth of arms into Pakistan and Afghanistan. The guerrillas that were receiving these consignments suddenly managed to boost the opium production from 250 tons in 1982 to about 800 tons in 1989. The production since the US/Nato presence in Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11 has increased to 4000 tons - this is the real inside story of the 'war on terrorism'.
During the Afghan resistance to Soviet forces, large-scale consignments of arms were sent to Pakistan to be delivered to rebels through the network of the ISI. The factories in Tel Aviv were working 24 hours to supply replica Kalashnikovs to the Mujahideen. The real beneficiary was thus the State of Israel. In the Iran-Contra scandal as well, it was uncovered that Iran, a staunch enemy of Israel, was buying weapons from it to annihilate another Muslim state, Iraq. This is the inside story of state terrorism, unleashed by the USA and Israel.
The Muslim states became victims of their own short-sightedness. They indirectly strengthened the Jewish state during the Afghan war. Israel earned billions of dollars by selling arms to Muslim rebels in Afghanistan and the money was paid either through drug trade or was financed by the Saudis. A high-ranking official of Israel's Foreign Ministry revealed that during the CIA involvement in Afghanistan, Israeli Government consented to the sale of arms to be used against the Soviet forces [Israeli Foreign Affairs, October 1990].
The elements linked to the drug dealers in Afghanistan spent approximately US $19 million on arms from Israeli weapon dealers in 1980 after the invasion of Soviet troops in Afghanistan [Hadashot, September 3, 1989]. Reliable reports were published in a number of reputed journals of the world that Israeli military experts joined other foreign mercenaries during this period in giving advice and weapons to teach the Russians a lesson.
However, the underlying motive was the money that they made out of these activities. The criminal culpability of the US created a permanent source of irritation for Pakistan and Afghanistan in the form of drug barons who work under the garb of Islamic movements. What we are witnessing in today's Pakistan is just a continuity of the same dirty game.
Largely shrouded in mystery is the fact as to how CIA, even today, continues to work closely with the forces that US State Department employed to dismember the USSR. It appears as if the US government itself has proved ineffective before the powerful elements that thrive on the drug-for-arms trade. For them it is absolutely essential that the war in Afghanistan continues, rather extends to all the nearby States. Nothing has changed even after the so-called post 9/11 counter terrorism efforts.
The forces of terror are still thriving on the drug-arms-money and posing even a greater threat to all States in this region. It further confirms the point that "terrorism" is in fact a tool in the hands of certain forces that want to impose the New World Order in the wake of 9/11. The ghastly events of attacks on both the PNS Mehran base in Karachi and in Abbottabad during May 2011, then invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the recent campaigns against Libya, Iran, Syria and other Muslin States should be seen in this perspective.
The present day troubles of Pakistan have their roots in 1979. At that time terrorism was virtually unknown in the country. The Afghan war changed all that. By 1984, the year when US Vice-President Bush Senior graced Pakistan with an official visit, the border area with Afghanistan supplied roughly 50% of the heroin consumed in the United States, and 70% of the world's high grade heroin; and there were 650,000 heroin addicts in Pakistan itself. Heroin was shipped out in the same Pakistan trucks that brought in arms to the Afghan guerrillas.
The drugs-arms-nexus represented the worst form of narco-terrorism, which any State could be subjected to, but nobody bothered to control it. In the post-9/11 scenario, militancy and terrorism again flourished under another military ruler - General Pervez Musharraf. Once again the Americans started showering praise, aid and support - the purpose was to make Pakistan a subservient state to US interest, neutral towards Israel and incapable of using its nuclear muscles.
The US never asked Ziaul Haq to restore democracy during his eleven years long rule.. From 1999 to 2001, they had the same "kindness" for General Pervez Musharraf - instead of asking him to restore democracy, they invited him to Camp David, interested and keen to ensure perpetuation and stability of his dictatorial rule so that their agenda in the region could meet with success. Pakistani rulers - both military and civilian - have not learnt any lesson from pre and post-9/11 betrayals of the US, let alone comprehending their blatant exploitation for the purpose of containment of China.
The present rulers and military establishment are also harping the tune of the US administration in the hope of perpetuating their rule and control [all other themes like aid, debt-reduction, military gains, position in world community etc are mere rhetoric]. The US and its allies using the pretext of 9/11 (in which we played no role as at that time Osama and company were in Afghanistan) have made every effort to cripple Pakistan militarily and economically, using proxies - militants groups (in fact mercenaries) and international lending agencies.
In the 80s, the theme was the drug trap, in the 90s it was the debt trap, and the terrorism trap in 00s. The terrorism trap is a death trap for Pakistan as the forces of obscurantism represent enemies from within who cannot be fought alone with military. Enjoying the support of the right wing, especially Mullah and Bazar, these merchants of death are working on the agenda of the US that wants to see Pakistan as a state without nuke power.
The more the rulers support the US and its allies, the chances for the forces of obscurantism to capture the State apparatus would be greater. This is the core of the US strategy towards blunting the nuclear power of Pakistan. Like the Islamic Card Policy of the 1990s, which helped the US to dismantle the hostile Marxist USSR Empire, the new Great Game is aimed at the containment of economically and militarily strong China and neutralisation of the "Islamic bomb" State of Pakistan. Pakistan, unfortunately caught in this deadly US trap, is now struggling for survival, threatened from two sides, by India and all-time-hostile-US-sponsored government in Afghanistan.
One thing is very clear that the wars in Afghanistan. Iraq and elsewhere have achieved everything for the US and its allies -- money, control and what not. Courtesy Osama bin Laden and his team, including all of their sympathisers, the loser is not only Pakistan but the entire Muslim World. For Muslims, these wars have brought destruction, internal strives, economic miseries and above all, further dependence on the West-this is beginning of yet another long and dark era for the Muslim world. The solution lies in merging into one unified bloc as is the case of EU, but it is still a distant dream as Muslims are the most divided community in the world at the moment. Their woes and miseries will continue unless they democratise, shun their differences, rise above the petty differences and forge a Muslim Bloc. A summit conference of all Muslim Heads of State for discussing and achieving this goal is the most urgent need of the hour.
(The writers are Adjunct Professors at Lahore University of Management Sciences)
27/5/2011
The military interventions by the US and its allies against a number of countries in recent years should be viewed in this perspective. The study of military presence in Afghanistan for the last ten years in the name of fighting "terrorism" (sic) unveils the real motives of the US and its allies. The so-called war against those who were once "great friends", admired as "Mujahideen" [holy warriors] by the US administration, is nothing but part of a Great Game. Its main aim is containment of China using militants in and around Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The New Great Game started in April 1979 when President Carter's National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski pushed through a decision to support the Afghans against the occupant Russian forces. The Carter administration interpreted the Soviet invasion as a threat to vital US interests all over the globe. Securing the co-operation from Saudi Arabia to contain Soviet aggression, the White House decided to support and promote the Jihadi spirit and culture amongst the tribes in Afghanistan and Pakistan and hire mercenaries from other Muslim countries. These mercenaries got an elevated position from low-paid assassins to highly-paid warlords.
The US policy of supporting Afghan resistance, with the help of Ziaul Haq's military regime, produced devastating effects in the aftermath of the disintegration of the USSR. United States and allies managed to achieve their main goal, but left Pakistan and Afghanistan in the doldrums. General Hameed Gul, former head of ISI, in an interview with daily Jang, published in its weekly magazine (14-20 January 2001) admitted that the Afghan Mujahideen failed to capture Kabul after the exit of Russian troops due to reduced supply of arms by the CIA.
He revealed that the CIA was supplying between 4000 to 6000 tons of armament at the peak of war, which was later on reduced to only 100 tons. He also made a number of startling revelations about the CIA-ISI connections during the Afghan war against the Soviet occupation and how some generals made huge fortune by selling the arms meant for the Mujahideen to warlords and even to some Muslim states. Another former ISI Chief, Javed Ashraf Qazi, in an interview to a local Urdu daily in November 2001, defended Pakistan's Afghan Policy of supporting the Afghan rebels and CIA's arms supplies and covert operations.
The arms-drug mafia that emerged during the Afghan resistance persisted and flourished even after the withdrawal of the Red Army from Afghanistan. In 1990 alone, the CIA had $36 billion at its disposal for such operations. The main concern was to fight the Soviet aggression and no one was ready to discuss the ramifications even for the US itself. CIA allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan opened a much larger arms-drug pipeline than in Central America.
In the process they gave an enormous boost to their trafficking intermediaries: powerful syndicates who because of this boom managed to entrench in the United States and numerous other countries around the world. Jack Blum, who investigated Iran-Contra connection for the Kerry sub-committee, calls the Afghanistan drug scandal "one of the biggest uncovered stories in the foreign policy arena. The scale and duration of the connection between drug trafficking, gun running and foreign policy are far larger even than the Central American affairs".
The figures bear him out. The CIA was shipping more than a billion dollars worth of arms into Pakistan and Afghanistan. The guerrillas that were receiving these consignments suddenly managed to boost the opium production from 250 tons in 1982 to about 800 tons in 1989. The production since the US/Nato presence in Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11 has increased to 4000 tons - this is the real inside story of the 'war on terrorism'.
During the Afghan resistance to Soviet forces, large-scale consignments of arms were sent to Pakistan to be delivered to rebels through the network of the ISI. The factories in Tel Aviv were working 24 hours to supply replica Kalashnikovs to the Mujahideen. The real beneficiary was thus the State of Israel. In the Iran-Contra scandal as well, it was uncovered that Iran, a staunch enemy of Israel, was buying weapons from it to annihilate another Muslim state, Iraq. This is the inside story of state terrorism, unleashed by the USA and Israel.
The Muslim states became victims of their own short-sightedness. They indirectly strengthened the Jewish state during the Afghan war. Israel earned billions of dollars by selling arms to Muslim rebels in Afghanistan and the money was paid either through drug trade or was financed by the Saudis. A high-ranking official of Israel's Foreign Ministry revealed that during the CIA involvement in Afghanistan, Israeli Government consented to the sale of arms to be used against the Soviet forces [Israeli Foreign Affairs, October 1990].
The elements linked to the drug dealers in Afghanistan spent approximately US $19 million on arms from Israeli weapon dealers in 1980 after the invasion of Soviet troops in Afghanistan [Hadashot, September 3, 1989]. Reliable reports were published in a number of reputed journals of the world that Israeli military experts joined other foreign mercenaries during this period in giving advice and weapons to teach the Russians a lesson.
However, the underlying motive was the money that they made out of these activities. The criminal culpability of the US created a permanent source of irritation for Pakistan and Afghanistan in the form of drug barons who work under the garb of Islamic movements. What we are witnessing in today's Pakistan is just a continuity of the same dirty game.
Largely shrouded in mystery is the fact as to how CIA, even today, continues to work closely with the forces that US State Department employed to dismember the USSR. It appears as if the US government itself has proved ineffective before the powerful elements that thrive on the drug-for-arms trade. For them it is absolutely essential that the war in Afghanistan continues, rather extends to all the nearby States. Nothing has changed even after the so-called post 9/11 counter terrorism efforts.
The forces of terror are still thriving on the drug-arms-money and posing even a greater threat to all States in this region. It further confirms the point that "terrorism" is in fact a tool in the hands of certain forces that want to impose the New World Order in the wake of 9/11. The ghastly events of attacks on both the PNS Mehran base in Karachi and in Abbottabad during May 2011, then invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the recent campaigns against Libya, Iran, Syria and other Muslin States should be seen in this perspective.
The present day troubles of Pakistan have their roots in 1979. At that time terrorism was virtually unknown in the country. The Afghan war changed all that. By 1984, the year when US Vice-President Bush Senior graced Pakistan with an official visit, the border area with Afghanistan supplied roughly 50% of the heroin consumed in the United States, and 70% of the world's high grade heroin; and there were 650,000 heroin addicts in Pakistan itself. Heroin was shipped out in the same Pakistan trucks that brought in arms to the Afghan guerrillas.
The drugs-arms-nexus represented the worst form of narco-terrorism, which any State could be subjected to, but nobody bothered to control it. In the post-9/11 scenario, militancy and terrorism again flourished under another military ruler - General Pervez Musharraf. Once again the Americans started showering praise, aid and support - the purpose was to make Pakistan a subservient state to US interest, neutral towards Israel and incapable of using its nuclear muscles.
The US never asked Ziaul Haq to restore democracy during his eleven years long rule.. From 1999 to 2001, they had the same "kindness" for General Pervez Musharraf - instead of asking him to restore democracy, they invited him to Camp David, interested and keen to ensure perpetuation and stability of his dictatorial rule so that their agenda in the region could meet with success. Pakistani rulers - both military and civilian - have not learnt any lesson from pre and post-9/11 betrayals of the US, let alone comprehending their blatant exploitation for the purpose of containment of China.
The present rulers and military establishment are also harping the tune of the US administration in the hope of perpetuating their rule and control [all other themes like aid, debt-reduction, military gains, position in world community etc are mere rhetoric]. The US and its allies using the pretext of 9/11 (in which we played no role as at that time Osama and company were in Afghanistan) have made every effort to cripple Pakistan militarily and economically, using proxies - militants groups (in fact mercenaries) and international lending agencies.
In the 80s, the theme was the drug trap, in the 90s it was the debt trap, and the terrorism trap in 00s. The terrorism trap is a death trap for Pakistan as the forces of obscurantism represent enemies from within who cannot be fought alone with military. Enjoying the support of the right wing, especially Mullah and Bazar, these merchants of death are working on the agenda of the US that wants to see Pakistan as a state without nuke power.
The more the rulers support the US and its allies, the chances for the forces of obscurantism to capture the State apparatus would be greater. This is the core of the US strategy towards blunting the nuclear power of Pakistan. Like the Islamic Card Policy of the 1990s, which helped the US to dismantle the hostile Marxist USSR Empire, the new Great Game is aimed at the containment of economically and militarily strong China and neutralisation of the "Islamic bomb" State of Pakistan. Pakistan, unfortunately caught in this deadly US trap, is now struggling for survival, threatened from two sides, by India and all-time-hostile-US-sponsored government in Afghanistan.
One thing is very clear that the wars in Afghanistan. Iraq and elsewhere have achieved everything for the US and its allies -- money, control and what not. Courtesy Osama bin Laden and his team, including all of their sympathisers, the loser is not only Pakistan but the entire Muslim World. For Muslims, these wars have brought destruction, internal strives, economic miseries and above all, further dependence on the West-this is beginning of yet another long and dark era for the Muslim world. The solution lies in merging into one unified bloc as is the case of EU, but it is still a distant dream as Muslims are the most divided community in the world at the moment. Their woes and miseries will continue unless they democratise, shun their differences, rise above the petty differences and forge a Muslim Bloc. A summit conference of all Muslim Heads of State for discussing and achieving this goal is the most urgent need of the hour.
(The writers are Adjunct Professors at Lahore University of Management Sciences)
27/5/2011
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