Communication Skills

Should Pakistan continue to be an ally of

United States of America in
‘War on Terror’?

Submitted to:
Mr.Salman Altaf

Submitted by:
A.Farid Kasi
BS36 3084
War on Terror
My fellow students and respected teacher, Assalam o Aliakum! I am here to talk
about the issue of “War on Terror” in which Pakistan is an ally of the U.S. Pakistan has
been a U.S. ally since its independence, and since then it has broken up and joined back a
lot of times, but the alliance in war on terrorism started after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

After 9/11, Pakistan, led by General Pervez Musharraf, joined the "War on Terror" as
a US ally. Having failed to convince the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden and other
members of Al Qaeda, Pakistan provided the U.S. a number of military airports and bases
for its attack on Afghanistan, along with other logistical support. Since 2001, Pakistan
has arrested over five hundred Al-Qaeda members and handed them over to the United
States; senior U.S. officers have been lavish in their praise of Pakistani efforts in public
while expressing their concern that not enough was being done in private. However,
General Musharraf was strongly supported by the Bush administration – a common
theme throughout Pakistan's relations with the US has been US support of military
dictators to the loss of democracy in Pakistan. In return for their support, Pakistan had
sanctions lifted and has received about $10 billion in U.S. aid since 2001, primarily
military. In June 2004, President George W. Bush designated Pakistan as a major non-
NATO ally, making it eligible, among other things, to purchase advanced American
military technology.

Pakistan has lost thousands of lives since joining the U.S. war on terror in the form
of both soldiers and civilians, and is currently going through a critical period. Suicide
bombs are now commonplace in Pakistan, whereas they were unheard of prior to 9/11.
The Taliban have been resurgent in recent years in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees have been created internally in Pakistan, as they have
been forced to flee their homes as a result of fighting between Pakistani forces and the
Taliban in the regions bordering Afghanistan and further in Swat. In addition, the
economy is in an extremely fragile position.

A key campaign argument of U.S. President Barack Obama's was that the US had
made the mistake of "putting all our eggs in one basket" in the form of General
Musharraf. Musharraf was eventually forced out of office under the threat of
impeachment, after years of political protests by lawyers, civilians and other political
parties in Pakistan. With President Obama coming into office, the U.S. is expected to
triple non-military aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion per year over 10 years, and to tie
military aid to progress in the fight against militants. The purpose of the aid is to help
strengthen the relatively new democratic government led by President Zardari and to help
strengthen civil institutions and the general economy in Pakistan, and to put in place an
aid program that is broader in scope than just supporting Pakistan's military.
 Unfortunately this democratic government hasn’t proved itself yet. The situation of
the country is getting worse day by day and no progresses have yet been made. No matter
what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic. And
in war, truth is the first casualty. So it is obvious that you can’t expect truth from U.S.
because they rely on lies. They make it sound so real and so large that eventually it is
believed to be the truth, as the saying of Adolph Hitler is: “Make the lie big, make it
simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it”.

So the words and treaties of the U.S. cannot be for the benefit of Pakistanis and not
what it seems to be. Instead the U.S. will bankrupt themselves in the vain search for
absolute security. They are spending billions on troops in Afghanistan and putting there
lives in danger and so as the lives of the citizens of Pakistan. The expenditure on arms,
food, army, planning and there damage to others will take the war no where as the war
won’t end just like this. Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by
understanding. So getting on terms with these Jihadists and Talibans then only a result
could be produced and peace achieved but not by a war. People who are anxious to bring
on war don’t know what they are bargaining for; they don’t see all the horrors that must
accompany such an event.

War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they
are going to profit from it. So it not just the U.S. instead it has all those peoples’ interests
involved that are going to benefit from it. As we are at a loss and fighting a proxy war
which has turned into our war now, we ourselves have invited the problems home. Due to
this proxy war we have suffered more than the Americans and this is not helping us
economically or in any other way. War comes from our being immature, fearful, and
injured, and not being able to conceive of other ways of solving problems.