The New Administration and Pakistani Relations

The former Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, complained that the U.S. is not treating his country the way it deserves to be treated, despite the fact that Pakistan is a “devoted ally” in the war on what he calls terrorism. Musharraf also said in an interview with the American news network CNN that insufficient cooperation is taking place in comparison with other countries and this is what hurts the government and the people of Pakistan. This interview was accompanied by reports of American pilotless drones targeting gunmen in Pakistan after the new Obama administration made the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters in the tribal regions of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan their national security priority.

In reply to the question of whether he was pleased with the continuation of these American attacks, especially after the arrival of the new president and his administration, Musharraf said he is certain that “Nobody in Pakistan is comfortable with the strikes across the border. There is no doubt in that. Public opinion is very much against it.”

Musharraf described the amount of ten billion dollars, which the previous administration of George W. Bush granted to Pakistan in the form of aid, as an insignificant reward for a country playing a crucial role in fighting “terrorism”, compared to 143 billion dollars spent in Afghanistan and more than a trillion dollars in Iraq. He emphasized that Pakistan “was in the lead role fighting a war for you for 10 years, between ’79 and ’89,” in a reminder of the Pakistani alliance with the U.S. and the Afghan Mujahedeen during the former Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan. The former President, who left power in August 2008, said that many Pakistanis felt that America abandoned them after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.