Path

Pakistan today is being pressed on all sides; by the angry West, tough insurgents, religious bigots, the lingering economic woes and a restless society. But it must not follow the path that was once treaded by US puppet regimes in other parts of the world. Instead the country must stand firm in the style of Sri Lanka. Never to give in to outside interference. The country must ignore the disquieting protests from the White House and the State Department and the disapproval of the CIA and the Pentagon. Pakistan must not forget the fate of all those countries whose governments blindly obeyed the orders from Washington. Nguyen van Thieu, Ferdinand Marcos, Lon Nol, Pinochet, the Shah of Iran, Suharto and others all had to give up their rule as a result of being too obedient to the lords in Washington. Pakistan must continue to do what it knows best for its own self in order to maintain stability within the nation and not obey all the dubious instructions from the US capital. If it is necessary for Islamabad to negotiate with the Pakistan Taliban or the tribal chieftains, it must do so. The decision by the US to escalate the situation in Afghanistan is a big mistake that will have severe repercussions on that impoverished country in the future years. Pakistan must not do anything or start anything that could lead to Islamabad sharing the same dark fate that Kabul would surely be forced to embrace one day once the foreign troops got tired of their playing around in the country. Pakistan needs to keep one wary eye on the local Taliban while keeping the door open to them to conduct whatever negotiations they might be interested in. Fighting the Taliban must only be seen as a measure of last resort. There is definitely no need to go all out militarily against its own people. Such a step is the wanted desire of the US but it will result in a catastrophe for Islamabad. Pakistan needs to focus more on its economy and should go remind the White House of the consequences should its economy collapse due to blindly following orders from abroad. A shift towards a policy of allowing shariah rule in Swat region and eleswhere is not necessarily bad for the country. Pakistan has been troubled by too many different political, ethnic and religious factions fighting one another and a brake is needed to be applied on the situation before complete chaos has a chance to reign. What the US could do or should do is to ensure that the Pakistan Armed Forces remain assuredly strong to face any situation in the foreseeable future. Any try to initiate a full-scale war against its own people even if they belong to the Taliban would eventually fracture the Pakistan Armed Forces and put its arsenal of nuclear

devices to unknown risks. Surely something the US would not want. Also, the country needs to ensure that it has some kind of food stockpile at hand at all times. The country has often been hit by all sorts of natural disasters and a food stockpile is greatly required but it costs money. Recently, the country was assured of financial aid at the meeting in Tokyo, but it came with conditions attached. It would be better for the US to help Pakistan in this area rather than have the country become another one more frontline battlefield. The present Obama administration is strangely determined to quit Iraq but at the same time, it is equally determined to wade deeper into Afghanistan. Could it be that the president wanted to show everyone else that he is a man of guts or could it be that he is secretly making sure that he won't upset the US military ? 2009 is a year that has brought a great deal of economic hardship to the world but that is not the only problem. It is also possible that this year's global food harvests may not be good and this could be very ominous for 2010. That could lead to more worldwide unrests and renew frictions between nations. Obama needs to think about this before rushing deeper into the streets and alleys of Kabul. The Taliban will always exist in that region because it is their home but the NATO presence there can only be temporary. It's hard to imagine NATO still in Afghanistan 25 or 30 years hence. And therefore the loser there cannot be the Taliban. It has to be someone else. Obama needs to be fully aware of it. Don't push or press Islamabad or else everyone will collapse together like a house of cards.