In These New Times

Engr. Mansoor A. Malik

Opinion Maker

29th June, 20120

The American Euphoria after the surrender of the Japanese on the US Naval Ship in the Pacific soon after the capitulation of the Germans was at its peak in the late 1940s’.The largesse of the American people and their government to re-build Europe and Asia as an aftermath of the Second World War was breathtaking and never again would the world at large ever witness such large heartedness and love for humanity. The US became the unchallenged leader of the Free World with the Dullesian (Secretary of State, Mr. Dulles) aid package flowing all over the world with or without their asking. This was America’s finest hour. Under these favorable conditions the Europeans pushed America for the creation of Israel in Palestine to appease the Zionists and putting the USA on the spot in Vietnam and Korea in the Pacific.

Pakistan ventured to the USA under these circumstances to re-invigorate itself and get out of the log jam of the Partition of India. This first trip to the USA of our first Prime Minister, Mr. Liaqat Ali Khan, soon after Pakistan came into being, however, turned out to be a fiasco. The US administration wanted our Armed Forces involved in the Korean War (1950-1953) after getting the relevant support from the Turkish Armed Forces for this war. Liaqat Ali Khan disappointed them as he referred this decision to the newly established first Democratic Parliament of Pakistan. President Eisenhower rushed his Vice-President Mr. Richard Nixon to India as an affront to Pakistan’s political leadership. Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India refused to entertain him and no hand shaking took place, even for the cameras, as India sought out its leadership role in the Non-Aligned Movement. For face saving, Mr. Nixon flew into Pakistan for a golden hand shake with its leaders and the rest is history. Pakistan was turned into the most allied ally of the USA.

The Nuclear strikes by USAF in Japan at the closing stages of the Second World War was not only a show of strength to the Soviet Union but also heralded the United States as a champion of the Western  World in the global political perspective in the times to come. From the world isolation of USA in the 1920s’ and 1930s’, it thrusted itself, un-prepared, on the World Scene and stretched itself in Asia, Africa and Latin America apart from consolidating its Trans-Atlantic relationship with its distant European cousins. This half cooked policy backfired in Korea in 1950s’ and had a tragic ending in Vietnam as far as Asia was concerned in 1970s’. In the European theatre, France and Germany started to take an independent posture and the onus fell on UK to deliver Europe to its WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) cousins in Washington. Mr. Macmillan may have been an outstanding Prime Minister of UK in his time but he was no match for Addenauer and Willy Brandt of Germany and the good old fox of France, General Charles de Gaulle. These stalwarts were instrumental in pushing the dream of One Europe to be realized thru the European Union in our lifetime. This has made possible for Europe to be counted now at the global level regardless of the Spoilers role of the UK.

The whiz kids in Washington at the turn of this century, the new millennium, wanted to re-fix their Asian Imbroglio as a counter weight to the growing influence of the European Union and China. In the Middle-East, Israel, its proxy, had to be pepped up and left to it to control the region with least opposition. Therefore, after the neutralization of Egypt, Iraq had to be dealt with and Syria isolated from this new political gamble in the making. The de-stabilization of Iraq could not be intelligently simulated in the War Gaming Simulators of the USA with the result that the Asymmetrical Forces were un-leashed around Israel increasing the paranoia of this tinny witty state in the Palestinian lands. Then it was our turn in South- West Asia. Instead of sending a few American commandos to pick up handful of miscreants in Afghanistan and produce them at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for a fair trial, the sovereignty of that country along with that of Pakistan was abused by first firing more than fifty Tomahawk Cruise Missiles by US Navy from our waters in Baluchistan to the Afghan camps at Khost across our border and then came the Daisy Cutters and B-52 Bombers to level off whatever was left of Afghanistan. My generation would now be left with only nostalgic memories of Nirvana about the annual Jashne-Kabul festivities that we attended in out teens in Kabul that was in the 1960s’.

The Israeli spread over from East of the Suez Canal was checked in its stride by the emerging Iranian reality and therefore, a new strategic dimension had to be added to the Middle-Eastern leg. This was achieved thru a two pronged approach by the USA. The first one involved the US-Israeli collusion in the exploitation of Economic Zones in Central Asia and the second, more intriguing one involving US-NATO-Israel-India was un-leashed in Afghanistan. This poor country which was already a melting pot of Central Asian Peoples’ became a hot bed of intrigues and counter intrigues due to varied approaches of these four entities, with each having their own axe to grind. The Afghan Resistance grew due to this lack of coherence and self centered policies of all these powerful players. The major contribution of this military campaign fell on the shoulders of USA, whereas, the political benefits were envisaged to be reaped by India as the regional power. The   Indo-Israeli nexus was again playing its cards close to its chest and putting the donkey’s work on the shoulders of USA similar the one in the Iraqi campaign. If the Iraq War would cost the American tax payers one and a half trillion US dollar by the time all American soldiers go home from this theatre, it would cost half that much in the Afghan campaign. What is the Cost-Benefit Ratio of both these campaigns to the average American?

The economics of it can take its own toll, but the signs of the long term political and diplomatic ramifications to the USA as a global player, has already become visible. Israel is now openly defying the Two State Solution Policy of the USA for Palestine and the body language of America’s interlocutor in the Middle-East, Mr. John Mitchell says it all. In Afghanistan, the poorest country in Asia, the existing US policy has miserably failed. While Iraq had its historical reputation of getting its rivers turned red out of martyr’s blood after every few centuries including this one, the Afghans being ferociously independent, have never allowed the Czars of Russia, the British Empire and  the Soviet Union an easy passage to their rugged country. They have stood their grounds while empires of the past have perished around them. How will America fare differently? Only time will tell.

In brief, Mansoor Malik has been Director General with over 33 year of experience in planning, establishing and managing national level, strategic, high-tech organizations. Director General, Marketing & Industrial Relations Organization (MIRO). Commandant, College of Aeronautical Engineering, Risalpur, Pakistan.

Senior Engineering Manager, PAF Project where he was responsible for the smooth induction of F-16 Aircraft Weapons System in the PAF and making them fully operational.

His experience is very versatile in different fields of technology and education. He is consultant to number of organizations and the Universities of Pakistan.

He writes for http://www.Opinion-Maker.org and other English dailies.