The US was right with ‘do more’
mantra but Pakistan was also right with its hesitations. A US delegation called
on K-P Governor Awais Ghani. “Governor, you are not playing straight”, visitors
asked. “Are you?”, Ghani replied. They had no answer. Musharraf threw his lot
with the US WOT. His U-Turn and precipitous offensive in Waziristan infuriated
the Taliban. Some, not all, turned against Pakistan.
Initially Allies’ offensive met with success, but before it got tough the US
cultivated its own faction of friendly Taliban. Funds poured in for the Taliban
from friends and foes alike, all using them to advance their own agendas. At the
same time terror atrocities in Pakistan began to assume alarming proportions.
Global WOT was turned into Pakistan’s WOT. Americans newfound love for India
played the role of spoiler. RAW’s outposts in Kandhar, Jalalabad and elsewhere
started fomenting trouble in Pakistan. That must have put caution on Musharraf,
but duplicity became diplomacy.
Gen Aurakzai as K-P Governor saw the dialogue as the only answer to the problem.
He felt confident that he would be able to convert the Americans and Afghans to
his point of view. His soft corner for the Taliban helped them emerge much
stronger during his governorship. Army stayed in Waziristan and Swat sustaining
continued casualties in the absence of firm orders and rules of engagement.
Musharraf’s lassitude and Kayani’s ambivalence impacted army’s morale. Despite
this pathetic background when the operations in Swat and SWA were launched the
Army responded in its traditional abandon. Gen Kayani can claim credit for those
operations but that is where he ran out of steam. His passive appraisal of
extending operations to NWA could not have spurred any civilian leadership into
action. When I went to attend the funeral of a child in Peshawar the distraught
father had accused Kayani of “criminal inaction for six long years of his tenure
as Army Chief”.
Then comes Gen Raheel. An underdog that he was he must have watched the Army’s
policy and operations from the fence, the best place for a cool headed
appreciation and rationale deductions. He took over with a clear mind. Political
brick bating and media abuse could not deter him from his resolve. His sincerity
and forthrightness impressed the Americans. Now the Americans, Afghans,
Pakistani nation, political elite and entire world community seem to have put
all their money on him. The Peshawar mayhem had shaken the nation and
reinvigorated an already committed Raheel Sharif. The domestic and regional
landscapes hold promise of a healthy change. The narrative of military
antagonists now sounds shallow and toothless. India will have to revise its
propaganda themes as well because its past mantra is failing badly. Gen Raheel
is changing the game.
Askari Raza Malik, DHA, Rawalpindi (Maj Gen (r), [email protected],
03217272990)