High-Level Pak-US Strategic Dialogue

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stated about high-level Pak-US strategic dialogue that the United States will provide $125 million assistance to Pakistan. Moreover, the United States has also assured Pakistan cooperation in thermal power projects and giving Pakistani goods access to US markets. She has stated many others areas of cooperation and assistance.

Dialogue's result depends on General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, Pakistan Army chief's negotiations. He is at the back. Kayani is sincere to people and the country. Some segments feel only General Kayani and General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) chief, are being given importance in Washington. According to sources, General Kayani's wife, son, daughter and daughter-in-law are with him in Washington. General Kayani is busy in Washington dialogue while the family is residing in New York.

Satisfied and Confident
"Official wedding procession" has arrived in the United States with a long list of demands. The Wall Street Journal claims a list of 56 pages has been handed over to Obama administration. The bridegroom from Pakistan is Shah Mehmud Qureshi while the United States considers General Kayani as the bridegroom. Efforts are on to tie new knots to the old relations. Amendment to the democratic system is also being deliberated. Wedding customs have formally started. The most interesting character among the hosts and the guests is General Kayani.

Warm welcome accorded to General Kayani by the US officials and media gives an impression that the Pakistani Government does not feel threatened during General Kayani's tenure. The United States feels satisfied and confident in negotiating with Pakistan Army. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmud Qureshi is the bridegroom in Pakistani delegation. However, the United States has wedlock with Pakistan Army. Finance Minister Ahmed Mukhtar, a participant in the dialogue, has secondary importance. Some segments believe that traditional dialogue between Pakistan and the United States is being portrayed as strategic dialogue in order to befool people.

Importance of Talks
The process of dialogue between the government's wedding procession and the "US Empire" is mere eyewash. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari government's supporters and opponents are busy in comments and discussions while the Pakistani community in the United States does not attach any importance to this dialogue. They say Pakistan neither was nor will be free to make its own decisions. Pakistan ahs always been governed by the Army. Democratic governments are nothing more than puppets.

The Pakistani community feels that the Army is supporting the incumbent regime as well. Some segments feel that General Kayani enjoys the same status as generals of yore enjoyed in Pakistan. Only a dictatorship and dictatorial democracy in Pakistan suits the United Stats. The incumbent government has come to power, apparently, through peace's votes. However, it is looking for scaffoldings to complete its term. Pakistan has an elected president as well. However, the real force comes from the Army and Army is considered synonymous with the United States. The segment, weary of Army and the so-called democratic regimes feels that the Army has very cleverly taken advantage of civil government's weakness.

Interference in Pakistani Politics
The United States considers the civilian government corrupt and inefficient whereas the Army is carrying out successful military operations, is arresting wanted terrorists, cooperating fully with the United States in war on terror. That is why Army is the focus of this dialogue. Simply put, the bride is not being wed with the bridegroom. The Pakistani delegation's body language shows that Pakistan's democratic government is feeble while the general is strong. Corrupt and dishonest government can never look straight into the US and Indian eyes, while the military bigwigs can look clearly through the US glasses. The US interference in Pakistani politics is as customary as oil and Henna are in wedding ceremonies. The ruler, whoever he might be, has to follow the rules; otherwise he will be sent packing.

The "villain" is closely looking at the Pak-US relations, especially the meetings. India is not willing to retreat any front including the important issues like nuclear deal with the United States, the water, Kashmir and Afghanistan issues. India is a US friend as Pakistan is. There are limits to implementation on Pakistan's wish list.

However, the Indian friendship is preferred. India has reservations over General Kayani's protocol and his inclusion in the dialogue. Pakistan believes that India wants to weaken the Pakistan Army, diminish its power and pride. However, the United States has different designs. Hillary Clinton said we have talked about developing Pakistan Army on modern footings. The United States has friendly relations with both Pakistan and India. Clinton said we cannot pressurize India over water issue in Pakistan.

India To Continue Reconstruction Work in Afghanistan

Afghanistan and India do not have a common border today. A third country, i.e., Pakistan is now dividing them. But there was a time when that country was an important part of the ancient Indian empire. According to eminent historians, the Aryan culture spilled over to India's mainland from here. Later, it also became the center for spreading Buddhism.

Strengthening Old Ties
Thousands of years have passed since then. The situation in the subcontinent has changed drastically. India-Afghanistan friendship is reaching new heights.

However, conditions in Afghanistan turned from bad to worse after its separation from India. It became a toy in the tug-of-war of foreign powers. Totally ruined after being treated as a playground by the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia, it faces the greatest threat today from Pakistan, which handed over this country to a monster like the Taliban. As a result, Afghanistan has once again become a war field.

Removal of Taliban
The Taliban rule in Afghanistan has been overthrown. Yet, its remnants are still creating trouble. International effort is continuing to reconstruct the country destroyed by the Taliban. India is playing a leading role in it, much to Pakistan's chagrin. Pakistan leaves no stone unturned to obstruct this work. The Indian Embassy there has been attacked several times as part of this plot. Places where Indians involved in the reconstruction of Afghanistan reside have become special targets. The hands of Pakistan's notorious intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), in these attacks have also been exposed.

Time and again, Pakistan has gone all out to reveal its dislike for India's presence in Afghanistan. But despite all threats, India is not prepared to shirk away from its responsibility toward its neighbor. It has spent more than Rs.2 billion for providing facilities like schools, roads, hospitals, and electricity in the country, thoroughly devastated by the war.

Main Responsibilities
It is said that more than 4,000 Indians are helping to make the country self reliant at enormous risks to their lives. The Afghan Government is quite cautious about the security of Indians, but it has its own limitations. In this situation, the Indian Government is also sending its security forces there.

The very sights of Indians delight Afghans today, whereas they are allergic even to the mention of Pakistan. That is why India must adhere to its task of helping Afghanistan, despite all odds. No direct gain might seem to be derived from it. Yet, by carrying out its obligation, India may play a crucial role in foiling Pakistan's terrorist conspiracies. One of the main responsibilities of India is to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a terrorist grazing ground.

Israeli Premier's Stand Challenge to US Administration

The disagreements between the administration of US President Barack Obama and the Israeli Government, led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over the settlement activity in occupied Jerusalem have increased. According to US dailies, these disagreements were clearly evident at the latter's meetings and tense talks with US officials.

Internal and External Interests
Netanyahu considers himself more powerful than the US President and his administration's officials because he enjoys great support from the two largest establishments in the United States, the Congress and the Jewish lobby, AIPAC (American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee). Therefore, he appeared uninterested in the calls on him to halt the settlement activity and go back to the table of indirect negotiations with the Palestinian side.

This arrogant stand on the part of the Israeli prime minister constitutes the greatest challenge, not only to President Obama, but also to the entire governing US establishment. This challenge makes it incumbent on the governing US establishment to confront the Israeli prime minister forcefully and effectively in a way that will serve the United States' internal and, particularly, external interests.

Successive Israeli Governments rebelled against the White House in the past, but the disagreements and crises that resulted from their action were not so serious that they were difficult to contain or overcome. The current crisis, however, is completely different in terms of its timing and the magnitude of dangers that it entails.

Wars in Region
The United States is currently fighting two ferocious wars in the region, one in Iraq and the other in Afghanistan. At least about a quarter of a million US soldiers are taking part in these two wars, and the Israeli settlement activities and acts of aggression began to have a negative effect on the US soldiers in these two wars, as was admitted by Commander of the US Central Command David Petraeus.

What we mean to say is that the United States cannot contain the current crisis through the same means that it used to contain previous crises. In addition, Israel currently suffers a quasi international isolation and increasing campaigns of hatred in the circles of the peoples of its allies in the Western states, namely in Europe.

Aggression Against Gaza Strip
Israel is no longer the only democratic state in the Middle East that represents the Western culture and abides by the law. Rather, it has become a terrorist rogue state in the eyes of many people following the war crimes that it committed during its latest aggression against the Gaza Strip and after it used the passports of more than six Western states (the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Australia, and Italy) in assassinating martyr Mahmud al-Mabhuh. Al-Mabhuh, one of the founders of the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement, HAMAS, was assassinated in an allied and peaceful state, the United Arab Emirates.

We do not know who will emerge as a winner in the current conflict between Obama and Netanyahu, between the president of a superpower and the prime minister of a small state that cannot live or rather survive without the former's support and backing. What we do know, however, is that the United States is the loser so far, only because this crisis broke out the way we saw, which was humiliating to the United States and to its international and regional standing.

Freezing Settlement Activity
What is certain is that the United States will not give up its Israeli ally because of the current crisis. On the other hand, Netanyahu will not make it easy for the United States to back down on its current stand on the need to halt or freeze the settlement activity to save what has remained of the peace process, which is truly collapsed. Netanyahu announced that occupied Jerusalem is not a settlement, but an eternal capital for the State of Israel.

What is noticeable is the fact that the Arab states are standing as spectators and not trying to help their US ally in such a confrontation with Israel. But this is not a strange stand because these states have no weight and value and are accustomed to living on the sidelines and to receiving insults and slaps.