  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton welcomed by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
BY ERNEST COREA
IDN-InDepthNews Analysis
WASHINGTON DC (IDN) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent public relations push (Oct. 28-30) in Islamabad and Lahore brought into open the distrust that bedevils the relationship between Pakistan and the U.S. The tone was generally polite but comments sometimes were on the borderline of hostility. The spirit of those exchanges was captured best by Andrea Mitchell, Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent of NBC News, who was an on-the-sport observer.
Clinton remarked during an end-of-visit interview with Mitchell that "thinking back, there was one young woman who was standing up and she was very, very kind about me personally and all the kinds of things that people say." Said Mitchell: "Yeah. And then she lets you have it."
One of Pakistan's English-language dailies, the 'Nation', wrote of the visit: "One cannot help feeling that (Clinton's trip) was an abortive exercise and she went away fully conscious of that." Coming from within a country that is to receive U.S.$1.5 billion a year over the next five years in Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the U.S. that's a pretty stiff rebuff.
The distrust that Clinton and her audiences acknowledged was a far cry from the relationship in days past when a South Asian academic claimed that U.S. policy toward India is skewed "because America sees India through a Pakistani prism".
The negative comments Clinton heard in Pakistan were so different from the chuckles of approval a Pakistani military leader received during a visit to Washington in the 'sixties when he told a bunch of Senators and Congressmen: "Democracy is for phlegmatic people like the British. We need a better contraceptive pill."
And, of course, collaboration and closeness characterized the bilateral relationship when President Nixon sought a "tilt" toward Pakistan during the India-Pakistan war that led to the creation of Bangladesh, as well as when Pakistan provided the confidential communications channel for messages between Beijing and Washington.
DEEP FREEZE
There was, however, a political chill in the air by the time President Bill Clinton visited South Asia in 2000, spending just six hours at an airport in Pakistan during his six-day sojourn in the region.
Secretary Clinton herself probably turned the chill into something approaching a freeze when she described India as "one of the few partners worldwide who will help us shape the 21st century". The two countries were "natural allies" who now want to go global, said Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert O. Blake, preparing the way for Clinton's assertion. Pakistanis must surely have been mortified at the thought.
That was in July this year. In the same month, a poll showed that a majority of Pakistanis considered galloping inflation a greater threat to their lives than the Taliban.
More recently, on the eve of Clinton's tour, many Pakistanis were enraged because they feared that "conditions" in the "Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act" (better known by the shorthand Kerry-Lugar, for its sponsors) threatened their country's sovereignty. The Act included requirements for accounting and reporting by the U.S. executive to the legislature to ensure that the goals of the partnership were being met, and the assistance provided was being used as intended.
These requirements were introduced in response to concerns that support received from the U.S. would be diverted for actions against India and not to revive Pakistan's sluggish economy or fight terrorism. Reactions particularly from Pakistan's military were so severe that the following clarification was issued by the U.S. legislature:
"The legislation does not seek in any way to compromise Pakistan's sovereignty, impinge on Pakistan's national security interests, or micromanage any aspect of Pakistani military or civilian operations. There are no conditions on Pakistan attached to the authorisation of $7.5 billion in non-military aid. The only requirements on this funding are financial accountability measures that Congress is imposing on the U.S. executive branch, to ensure that this assistance supports programs that most benefit the Pakistani people."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs added to the Kerry-Lugar clarification, announcing to the media that the Act "is the tangible manifestation of broad support for Pakistan in the U.S. as evident by its bipartisan, bicameral, unanimous passage in Congress".
It was against this background that Clinton undertook her PR offensive -- and she really tried hard. She visited revered religious and cultural sites, and also indicated at some length her fondness for and familiarity with everything Pakistani -- friends, food, and fashions included.
MANY HANDOUTS
Clinton held discussions with both the civilian and military leadership, from the President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister through top brass of the army and intelligence services to provincial and central government politicians including well-known opposition figures.
She made announcements of largesse for education, energy, humanitarian relief, law enforcement, and the Benazir Income Support Fund that supports indigent women and their families.
In addition she participated in several encounters with a large slice of civil society: academics, community leaders from the North-West Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, educators, journalists (print, radio and television), lawyers, police, and professional women.
Throughout, she was received with civility, but comments and questions left no doubt as to what the most emphatic of her interlocutors felt. She was asked about the new ODA, of course, and also about the violence they claimed had been visited on them as a result of U.S./Western intervention in Afghanistan.
"You have had your 9/11, and we are having daily 9/11 in Pakistan," was one comment. Another: "Look, Madam Secretary, we are fighting a war that is imposed on us. It's not our war. That was your war, and we are fighting that war."
There were claims that U.S. servicemen and contractors -- both sets, armed -- were strutting around their streets in a high-handed, proprietary manner. There was criticism, as well, of the use of drones (unmanned aircraft). They have taken out 13 top targets including Betullah Mehsud, the leader of Pakistan's Taliban and, in the process, it was said, have killed several hundreds of civilians.
"What is actually terrorism in U.S. eyes?" Clinton was asked. "Is it the killing of innocent people in, let's say, drone attacks? Or is it the killing of innocent people in different parts of Pakistan, like the bomb blast in Peshawar two days ago? Which one is terrorism, do you think?"
'NOT GETABLE'
Perhaps in exasperation, Clinton at one point back, shot back:
"Al-Qaeda has had safe haven in Pakistan since 2002. I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to. And maybe that’s the case. Maybe they're not getable. I don't know . . .
"Al-Qaeda has run attacks against Indonesia, Spain, Great Britain, the United States, other countries, the Philippines, et cetera, through either direct or indirect approaches. So the world has an interest in seeing the capture and killing of the people who are the masterminds of this terrorist syndicate, but so far as we know, they're in Pakistan.
"So I think I am more than willing to hear every complaint about the United States. I am more than willing to do my best both to answer but also to change where we can so that we do have better communication and we have better understanding. But this is a two-way street. If we're going to have a mature partnership where we work together on matters that really are in the best interest of both of our countries, then there are issues that not just the United States but others have with your government and your military security establishment."
"If we are honest, we cannot deny that much of what she said was true," said a media commentary. "Frankly, it was a waste of my time," said an audience participant. "[Clinton] wasn't interested in hearing about the layman's problems or the reality of our daily lives," said another.
Was it stubborn stalemate, or a refreshingly frank exchange of views that can lead to more productive results if both countries seek to make improved communication their norm? (IDN-InDepthNews/04.11.09)
Copyright © 2009 IDN-InDepthNews Service
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The writer has served as Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Canada, Cuba, Mexico, and the USA. He was Chairman of the Commonwealths Select Committee on the media and development, Editor of the Ceylon ‘Daily News’ and the Ceylon ‘Observer’, and was for a time Features Editor and Foreign Affairs columnist of the Singapore ‘Straits Times’. He is on the IDN editorial board.
Ernest Corea’s previous IDN articles:
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