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US Illusions Die With Benazir Bhutto
by Christian Parenti The ad hoc and shortsighted nature of US policy toward Pakistan is on display once again. Benazir Bhutto has been murdered, most likely by religious fanatics. In the West, pundits and diplomats now wring their hands and lament: “Oh no. All our eggs in one basket.”
But let's step back for a second to look at how thoroughly bankrupt US policy in that region has become, and recognize the desperate need for a New Diplomacy toward the Muslim world in general.
[Republished at PFP with express Agence Global permission.]
The US State Department sent Benazir Bhutto to her death when it devised the plan to save Musharraf's legitimacy by power-sharing with her. A New Diplomacy is required to focus more coherently and comprehensively on Pakistan's security.
From the beginning, the putschist General Pervez Musharraf has
been backed by the United States as the indispensable ally in the
global war on terror. The New York Times reported recently that since
9/11, the United States has spent more than $5 billion to bolster the
Pakistani military’s effort to fight Al Qaeda and the Taliban. But --
what a shock! -- much of the aid money was stolen or diverted to build
up Pakistan’s military posture vis-a -vis India. Meanwhile, elements of
the Pakistan security forces are working with the Taliban.
This
game -- Pakistan having it both ways -- was working well for
Musharraff. But then he attempted to stack the supreme court and
triggered a massive and robust backlash from lawyers and judges, and
suddenly the General needed an image makeover.
So, as the
Pakistani author Tariq Ali put it, Washington concocted an “arranged
marriage”: Bhutto would return to Pakistan, there would be elections,
and probably a power-sharing deal with the General. And the status quo
would carry on with renewed legitimacy.
But who was Bhutto?
As ‘chairperson-for-life’ of the Pakistan Peoples Party she brooked no
dissent. The PPP had populist roots, but over the decades its
democratic and redistribution programs had devolved into largely
meaningless rhetoric.
Bhutto’s two terms as Prime
Minister, in the late 1980’s and then again beginning in 1993,
delivered nothing. She was implicated in the murder of her brother.
Pakistan under her was one of few countries in the world to recognize
the Taliban regime in Kabul. And she grew increasingly corrupt,
appointing her husband as Minister for Investment -- meaning he was in
charge of all state investments, at home and abroad.
The
couple is accused of having accumulated $1.5 billion -- much of it
public money. Upon her death she was facing corruption cases in
Switzerland, England, and Spain.
Partnered with Musharraf,
Benazir Bhutto would not have transformed the deep rot of corruption,
poverty, and underdevelopment that fuels a growing discontent -- in the
form of Islamic fundamentalism and Pashtun nationalism -- in Pakistan’s
frontier provinces. Nor would she have controlled Pakistan’s security
forces, which are economically and politically quite powerful and
autonomous institutions. In short, Bhutto could not have delivered for
Washington, and won the local "war on terror." She could not have
provided domestic stability.
And what of Washington's $5
billion largely misspent Pakistani aid? The key ingredient in that
fiasco was how much had been diverted to the military face off with
India. The threat from India is crucial in understanding why Pakistan
supported the Taliban and Hezb-i-Islami in Afghanistan, and why
fundamentalism is on the rise through out that region.
Pakistan
feels menaced by India -- and it is. To move towards stability is not a
matter of setting up this leader or that one. It requires a whole new
direction for US policy: a New Diplomacy.
The United
States could use its power to de-escalate the many interconnected
conflicts in South Central Asia. This would require a concatenate
series of regional peace conferences involving all the great powers as
well as each set of regional powers. The process would take years --
and it might not work. It would have to be on the scale of the 1919
Paris Peace Conference, in which the allies redrew the map of the world
after WWI. But the New Diplomacy would have to follow a very different
progressive logic of de-escalation -- not the imperial logic of winners
dividing spoils.
For Pakistan, the New Diplomacy would
require a regional conference to deal with the standoff between
Pakistan and India. China and Russia would have to be involved in the
talks. In other words, a central but often over looked piece of The
Global War On Terror is Pakistan’s security. Why does Pakistan tolerate
and even support the Taliban to keep Afghanistan, to its West, weak?
Because, Pakistan is threatened by India to its East.
Settle
the security issue between India and Pakistan -- fix the question of
Kashmir -- and then Pakistan can be credibly pressured to stop
subverting Afghanistan.
Finally, with a New Diplomacy, the
United States must accept the limits of its power. America does not
have the right to control everything, nor does it have that power.
The brutal murder of Benazir Bhutto is just the latest proof of that.
Christian
Parenti is an investigative journalist and scholar. His most recent
book is The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq
(2004), is an account of the US occupation in Iraq. Parenti has
reported from Africa, Afghanistan, Iraq, Venezuela, and Bolivia.
Agence
Global is the exclusive syndication agency for The Nation, Le Monde
diplomatique, as well as expert commentary by Richard Bulliet, Mark
Hertsgaard, Rami G. Khouri, Peter Kwong,Tom Porteous, Patrick Seale and
Immanuel Wallerstein.
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Released: 28 December 2007
Word Count: 793
Rights & Permissions Contact: Agence Global, 1.336.686.9002, rights@agenceglobal.com
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