America’s ‘Pakistan Experts’ & Their Local Poodles

Welcome to the world of self-styled ‘Pakistan experts’, groomed by U.S. think tanks to sit thousands of miles away from the target country to provide to the ‘international media’ [read ‘British and American media’] one-sided analysis that suits U.S. government’s interests.  Recently, U.S. think tanks have also produced Pakistani ‘Pakistan experts’, who parrot the latest line in U.S. thinking. This is the only way these ‘experts’ can guarantee regular slots on the free American-international-global media.

By Ghalib Sultan

Wednesday, 6 May 2009.

WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—As television channels, newspapers and magazines have multiplied in Pakistan so has the number of 'analysts and experts'. Tune in to any channel and you can see them sounding off as if they are the fount of all knowledge and wisdom.

Most pathetic are the ageing retirees trying to grab a bit of limelight even at the cost of letting down their colleagues and institutions. Most of them have ended up as permanent laughing stocks with zero credibility.

Internationally, as Pakistan makes headlines, we have an army of writers, thinkers, experts, analysts and talk show guests scattered worldwide who seem to know Pakistan better than Pakistanis.

Most are comfortably ensconced in fully funded think tanks and their livelihood depends on the amount of 'wisdom' they can spout on Pakistan, Afghanistan, India or other regional hot spots. The flavor of the month is Pakistan. Their favorite topics are the Pakistan Army, the ISI, nuclear weapons, Taliban, Al Qaeda, the political government, aid to Pakistan and of course U.S.-Pakistan relations.

On Pakistan they have to tell a gullible American audience that Pakistan is about to implode, fragment or be overrun by the militant hordes of Taliban and Al Qaeda. They do not ever mention what percentage of the total land mass of Pakistan is actually controlled by the militants, how many there are and exactly how they are going to overrun Pakistan if it does not want to be run over.

On the Pakistan Army the refrain is Punjabi (pronounced Poonjabi) Pakistan Army and its lack of motivation in fighting those who threaten the state.  And on ISI the constant in all utterances and writings is the linkage with Taliban and extremists. Conveniently ignored is the fact that it is NOT a Punjabi army—it is Pakistan's Army and its proudest sons have been and are Pashtuns, along with everyone else. Again if the Pakistan Army's 'morale is down' then pray tell us who is doing the fighting? If there is any truth in these wild unsubstantiated allegations by these so-called experts then why haven't all these baddies banded together with the Pashtuns and Taleban to turn the tide in Afghanistan?  Surely not for the dollars that the U.S. dishes out with all sorts of conditions. They must also tell us how many of these dollars never make it out of Washington and how many find their way back there.

Some expert called Ralph Peters started the 'balkanization' scenario and produced his own maps to support it. Others have carried on from there. The latest is Selig Harrison with his 'State of the Federation of Pakistan' apparently funded by the Ploughshares Fund. In his doomsday writings he conjures up the old hat about 'Pashtunistan' and Baluchistan and of course the Poonjabi Army and the ISI and so on. Ploughshares should seriously consider if what they want is all this muck pulled out of the woodwork.

CENTCOM's resident expert adviser who predicted the implosion of Pakistan in six months has now targeted the Pakistan Army and ISI in his testimony to Congress. He wants U.S. dollars to go to the Police just like in Afghanistan. Does he want the same results? He apparently wants to create a gap between Pakistan’s military and civil institutions because right now no such disconnect exists. And then there is the nuclear proliferation genie that can always be trotted out and paraded to terrify Americans that hordes of Taliban after overrunning Pakistan will nuke them. Even high level officials who should know better mouth the same things over and over again.

These ‘experts’ might be doing a good job of scaring the dumb Americans. But in Pakistan, they have no buyers.

This is a slightly edited version of the original piece that was first published by Newsvine.com

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