A Skeptic’s View Of US–Pakistan ‘Strategic Dialogue’

Before we take another strategic U-turn on Afghanistan, Pakistan’s Policymakers must read this:

• Pakistan is conceptualized as a theater of war in American operational plans as the term Af-Pak suggests so strategic dialog under the presence of such perception is nothing more than an illusion
• One option for Pakistan is to work on isolating the extra-regional powers [countries not bordering Afghanistan] and then pitch the extra-regional powers against one another by manipulating the rifts between major EU countries (which are already wary of prolonged Afghan mission) and the U.S.
• This strategic dialog is an important component of an overall military strategy led by Gen. Petraeus in which enhancing U.S image and closing the trust deficit both in COIN operations at tactical level in Afghanistan and at strategic level in Pakistan.
• The idea of offering Pakistan the carrot of a prolonged negotiations for a civilian nuclear deal was floated as far back as April 2009 with the aim of aligning US and Pakistani interests

Majid Mahmood

An Assessment

Summary

Recent days have seen a deceptive shift in U.S policy towards Pakistan. In a stated aim to ‘redefine’ its relationship with Pakistan a process of strategic dialog has been orchestrated by the United States creating much buzz in Pakistan over the issue. This brief essay will examine the real purpose of this strategic dialog, American plans for the region, strategic implications for Pakistan’s continued alliance with the US, and the formulation of alternative policy options for Pakistan.

What You should know about RAW

Satish Chandra

Over the past many years, I have shown how almost all terrorist incidents in India since 1983 have been carried out by outfits controlled by the CIA either directly or through intelligence agencies in the region, including India’s RAW. The Jain Commision of Inquiry, which went into Rajiv Gandhi’s death, acknowledged that the LTTE, which carried out his assassination, was created and controlled by RAW. It was an open secret that MQM, in Pakistan’s Sindh province, when it was known as a terrorist organization, was a creation of RAW. But the same is true of many terrorist outfits that operate in India. Another example of RAW’s multifarious activities, that I have described in press releases, articles and letters to the press since 1987, is its spreading heroin addiction and AIDS first in India’s Northeast then elsewhere to provide the United States with a population to use as guinea pigs for AIDS vaccine development, after the CIA was assigned the task of roping in a population for this purpose.

India: US imperialism’s new cop on the South Asian beat

Found this article by an Indian writer, Kavita Krishnan, written last year. Its a fascinating read on the US imperialist plans for India, the implementation of which has so far gone largely unnoticed by the masses. A must read, particularly for our Indian readers.

June 11, 2008 – The Indian ruling class is striving to forge what it calls a “strategic partnership” with the United States, and in this aim the major ruling-class political parties are united. The previous government — a coalition termed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) headed by the Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — which was in power from 1999-2004, had in the wake of 9/11 strived to prove to the US rulers that India was a more stable and suitable ally on the subcontinent for the US “war on terror” than Pakistan.

The BJP-led NDA government even proposed a grandiose “Triad Against Terrorism” comprising India, Israel and the US, thereby overturning decades of Indian foreign policy that had favoured the Palestinian cause. The BJP is known for its viciously anti-Muslim agenda, is notorious for the state-sponsored pogrom which killed thousands of Muslims in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002, and its goal is to turn secular India into a “Hindu” nation. The BJP, drawing on the “clash of civilisations” notion of Christians, Jews and Hindus against Muslims, spoke of a supposed “natural affinity” between India – the “Hindu homeland” – besieged by the terrorism of its Islamic neighbour Pakistan, and Israel – the “Jewish homeland” – besieged by “Muslim” Palestine’s “terrorism”. In May 2003, India’s national security advisor Brajesh Mishra, addressing a meeting of the American Jewish Committee – a Zionist outfit – in Washington, called for a “core, consisting of democratic societies … which can take on international terrorism” – and the Indo-US-Israel axis was to constitute this “core”. The NDA government had even been willing to send Indian troops to assist the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq, but nationwide protests resulted in a unanimous vote in parliament against such a move.