Ashraf Ghani on the left and Gen.Raheel on the right

World politics changed completely after the tragic incident of 9/11 on the World Trade Centre when the US decided to start the so-called war on terror.  The whole international community supported American stance in the resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly. The staunchest supporters of Afghan Taliban like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia also abandoned their support under international pressure. Under such situation, Pakistan had no choice but to support the stance of the international community. The situation for Pakistan became further alarming when America threatened to invade Pakistan if the former did not support them in their war against terrorism. Pakistan was given only two choices, “either you are with us or against us” and it is even said that Collin Powell threatened Musharraf that Pakistan will be taken to Stone Age in case of non-cooperation.  Weighing the repercussions, Pakistan took a U-turn and sided with the international coalition against its former allies, Afghan Taliban.

Militant religious and sectarian organizations were banned and Law enforcement agencies began to clamp down upon them. Most of their leaders were put behind bars or were house arrested with an aim to dismantle the structure of these organizations. Their bank accounts were suspended and their funds were frozen. This was a major policy shift because of the close relations which our state and especially the military establishment had with them (Taliban) during the Afghan Jihad era.

This close partnership with Americans continued for many years in the post 9/11 era but soon both of them started blaming each other for Double-game.

This was due to the varying interests of both the countries in this war. America was more focused on uprooting the Al-Qaeda and Taliban whereas Pakistan wanted to have some relations with Taliban to counter Indian influence in Afghanistan. Pakistan also wished help from Americans to solve the Kashmir issue but never happened.

This so-called strategic partnership between US and Pakistan touched lowest when America Navy Seals carried out a unilateral action on the compound of Osama Bin Ladin in Abbot Abad and after that a strike of Nato Helicopters on Salala Check post. Some US officials blamed Pakistan for harboring Osama Bin Ladin, which Pakistan denied in strong words.

After spending trillion of dollars in Afghanistan and losing thousands of its soldiers, Americans now have started a formal dialogue process with Afghan Taliban in which Pakistan is acting as a facilitator. Quadrilateral Cooperation Group consisting of Pakistan, Afghanistan, America and China is another effort of Pakistan to solve the dispute on table though not materialized yet.

Another sudden and unexpected change was in our foreign policy towards Indian occupied Kashmir. In the past, the same organizations which were banned after 9/11 have been instrumental in waging Military Jihad against the Indian oppression but that change of mood on international arena compelled Pakistani state to abandon military support to the rebel groups in Kashmir. Pakistan started focusing more on political and moral support to the Kashmir cause to counter Indian propaganda of linking Kashmir issue with terrorism. Kashmiris also sensed the delicacy of time and a full-pledge peaceful struggle began to replace the armed movement.

Pakistan strategic friendship with China has not been affected in any way by the 9/11 attacks and in fact, the friendship has got stronger with time. This can be seen practically in the form of “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor”, which will cost 46 billion dollars with most of the investment going towards most-needed energy sector. Pakistan has also not only established contacts with Russia but has further strengthened it in due course as evident from the Pipeline funded by Russia and the recent “Druzhba or friendship” exercise of Russian troops in Pakistan.

Pakistan has also maintained friendly ties with Islamic world and role of Pakistan government in Yemen War is commendable, in which it tried to bring both Saudi and Iran on table. Pakistan is also playing an important role in Middle East and Central Asia.

Though we suffered a lot from the repercussions of 9/11 in the form bomb blasts and suicide attacks which have claimed more than 70 thousand lives of our innocent countrymen keeping aside the 130 billion dollars loss we have to sustain but still we hope that once all the fighting parties in Afghan Civil War come to the table to resolve their differences we will achieve complete peace in our neighborhood and that will positively affect our country.