Why does Pakistan support America?

[Ali_Syed]

re: Why does Pakistan support America?

@sanjsingh

The Islamic republic of Pakistan offers much suport to the US, it is a great partner in the “war against terror”, it allows NATO convoys to use Pakistan roads etc so NATO can fight against the Taliban. However at the same time I see many contradictions there are protests against the US, many Pakistanis hate the US that much is certain. Bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan, to be able to do so he must have had support from many Pakistanis.
I have read that Pakistan helped create the Taliban but now have turned against them in support to the US. Is that correct, if so Why? IS Pakistani support of the US a just jihad, or are they only helping the Americans kill their own people.
As a student of world affairs I really would like to read your opinions.

We need to see the full picture before understanding the complex Pakistan-Afghanistan issue.

Background:

Pakistan and India have been to three full fledge wars (1971 war culminated in the dismemberment of Pakistan). In addition to these wars we have had the Siachin incursion and the Kargil wars. In 1960’s and 70’s the rulers of Afghanistan (Zahir Khan and Daud Khan) started instigating Pakistani pashtuns in the name of Pashtunistan, and Afghanistan was thought to be behind some terror activities in Pakistan as well.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/pashtunistan-1961.htm
**The Pakhtunistan issue, a massive interference in the affairs of Afghanistan’s southeastern neighbour Pakistan, was given state support by King Zahir Shah, Amanullah’s grandson. The ruling family strangled a short era of liberalization in the late 1940s in 1953, when Prince Daud Khan, the king’s cousin, became prime minister. He wanted to expand Afghanistan, to include the Pashtun areas and population of Pakistan. Sardar Daud Khan was a strong proponent of Pashtun nationalism and a serious Pakhtunistan activist. But this very issue was to precipitate Daud’s downfall. The Pashtunistan question was pursued with hardline fervor by Prince Mohammad Daud in early 1960’s.**In 1960, the dispute heated up again, when Afghan irregular and Army troops dressed up as tribesmen, penetrating the Pakistan side of the Durand Line in the Bajour area, about 70 miles north of Peshawar. This led to the closing down of Pakistani consulates in Afghanistan in August 1961.**The most serious crisis lasted from September 1961 to June 1963, when diplomatic, trade, transit, and consular relations between the countries were suspended. The Pashtunistan conflict which erupted in 1961-1963 effectively led to a closure of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Running out of patience with Afghan agitation, Pakistan closed the border in August 1961. Afghanistan and Pakistan severed relations on September 6, 1961 and traffic between the two countries came to a halt. Afghanistan was thereby obliged to depend more heavily on the Soviet Union for trade and transit facilities.**The closure of the border with Pakistan over the Pashtunistan conflict in 1960-61 led to a change of the winter pastures from Pakistan to Afghanistan. As a result Afghan nomads were cut off from their winter grazing grounds and were forced to either abandon pastoralism or relocate to winter grazing areas within Afghanistan. During the first year, and then with lesser intensity in 1962, nomads actually fought with each other as they competed for new winter grasslands, and farmers resisted the nomads who established winter quarters near their villages. This led to a reshuffling of pasture user’s rights in these new winter locations, from which ripple effects are still visible today in the provinces bordering Pakistan. Many of the wealthier pashtun nomads [kuchi] abandoned livestock production at this point, and invested in other businesses, which is one of the reasons why many wealthy kuchi are involved in the transportation business nowadays.By 1963, it became clear that neither Daoud Khan nor Ayub Khan, then ruler of Pakistan, would yield and to settle the issue one of them would have to be removed from power. Afghanistan’s economy was suffering from the dispute and in March 1963, with the backing of the royal family, King Zahir Shah sought Daoud Khan’s resignation on the basis that the country’seconomy was deteriorating as a result of his position regarding the Pashtun tribes in Pakistan. Daoud Khan resigned in March 1963 and was succeeded by Dr. Mohammed Yousuf as Prime Minister of Afghanistan. The change improved the atmosphere and diplomatic relations were restored in May 1963. The border was also reopened by Pakistan in May 1963.The United States has always supported Pakistan on the issues of the Durand Line and Pashtunistan. According to the U.S. State Department, “The Pashtunistan campaign is as farcical stunt on the part of the Royal Family to promote its own interests.”
](Pashtunistan)Pashtunistan

Afghanistan has been an independent nation since August 19, 1919, after the British relinquished control. A monarchy ruled from 1919 until a military coup in 1973. For many years Afghanistan never posed any military threat to Pakistan. During the reign of Afghan King Zahir Shah, Pakistan did not face a threatening military posture from Afghanistan that would require a force deployment on the Durand Line. This was the case even during the two wars with India in 1965 and 1971. Following the overthrow of Zahir Shah in 1973, the new Daud regime raised the issue of Pashtunistan, and for the first time moved the Afghan Army closer to the borders with Pakistan, which resulted in reciprocal Pakistani deployments. A large portion of the Afghan army was deployed along the Durand line. The 1973 coup by Daud in Afghanistan coincided with uprisings in tribal areas in parts of Baluchistan and NWFP actively supported by Afghan Intelligence.On July 17, 1973 Prince Mohammad Daud, 65-year old first cousin of King Mohammad Zahir (and former strongman Prime Minister of Afghanistan 1953-63) executed a brilliantly organized takeover of the country, supported primarily by a small number of dissident military officers. Daoud’s comeback was a return to traditional strongman rule and he was a particularly appealing figure to military officers. As prime minister, Daoud had obtained large supplies of modern arms from the Soviet Union and he had been a former army officer himself. Also, his strong position on the Pashtunistan issue had not been forgotten by conservative Pashtun officers.The main foreign policy question in the region for new regime was what to do about the Pashtunistan question, which Presumably he will adopt strong position against recent divide-and-rule tactics of bhutto in nwfp and baluchistan, but if he learned anything from his expirience of 10 years ago, he will apply this policy more judiciously, perhaps in fashion resembling his predecessors of recent years at least in short term future.By November 1973 Pakistan and Afghanistan continued to move slowly and steadily toward confrontation over the Pashtunistan issue. Each of the three players - Kabul, Islamabad, and the Pathan population of Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province - was acting under strong domestic compulsions which are largely unrelated to the issue itself but which will continue to fuel rising tensions. Athough the situation is not critical, there were no signs that any side of the triangle is disposed to seek accommodation.

The fear of India along with mistrust of Afghans created ideal conditions for Pakistan to interfere in Afghanistan. In 1979, Afghanistan was ruled by the communists and Pakistani policy makers feared that communism was knocking on their doors. When the Americans asked Pakistanis for their help they readily agreed and helped them defeat the Russians (with the help of Afghan Mujahedeen trained in Pakistan) while bagging billions of dollars in return. In 1991 after the breakdown of USSR, the world powers lost interest in the region. An unstable Afghanistan was left alone where thousands of people were killed by the fighting between rival sects, clans, tribes and ethnicities. This was the time (1996) when Pakistan helped unite a few of those warring factions to form what now is called taleban movement (although these people were already there in Afghanistan since 1979 in one form or the other). Three countries Pakistan, UAE and Saudi Arabia recognized the taleban movement.

WOT:

Fast forward to 2001, Americans had been under attack and they were mad with rage. Bush threatened the world and asked them if they were with them or against them.

With Us or Against Us

A few options were put forward to Musharraf, and he accepted all of them. Musharraf thought that if he didn’t side with the Americans, Indians will fill the void and Pakistan might come under attack from both US and India at the same time. This could be right or wrong it was his judgement (being a dictator he was not bound to ask his public before taking a complete uturn on his previous policies). As a consequence Pakistan became the biggest non NATO ally of the US, and got billions of dollars as Aid. This war from the beginning was very controversial for a very large population of the country.

**Results:
**
The consequence of Pakistan siding with Americans in 1979 gave us Afghan refugees, heroine and klashnikov culture. And our siding with them in 2001 has given us Pakistani taleban and suicide attacks.