Editorials in Pakistani Dailies Set Out Pakistan's Response to the United States' Suspension of $800 Million Aid to Pakistani Army

Following are excerpts from The Nation editorial:[5]

"The $800 million of aid that the Americans have decided to hold back out of $2 billion earmarked for Pakistan Army should not be taken as a punitive measure that it is intended to be. Instead, it should be treated as a golden opportunity to get out of the intricate web of Western aid, especially of the U.S. and international financial institutions like the IMF. It might at first sight appear a tall order because of the huge amount that we owe to these institutions.

"However, the American aid should correctly be called only a partial reimbursement of the expenditure and losses that Pakistan bears in prosecuting the war on terror. No doubt, it is fairly substantial in commitment, but is charily delivered. If we were to coolly take into account the human and natural resources the country possesses and if we were able to manage to eliminate the corrosive disease of corruption afflicting our polity, it should not be too difficult for us to manage without these financial hand-outs that come with a lot of painful strings.

"Fortunately, we have a tried and tested friend, China, to fall back upon. For any shortfall, as an unnamed Pakistani official observed in reaction to the announcement made by White House Chief of Staff William Daley to withhold the aid, we can 'fill the gap' from Beijing, which has time and again expressed its readiness to help us stand on our feet. Only the hesitation of our West-leaning ruling circles has stood against the development of Pak-China relations to the great potential that they have.

"Another story in The Nation yesterday quoted Director General of Three Gorges Corporation of China Wang Shoofeng as assuring that it could help Pakistan raise its generation capacity by 10,000MW within the next 10 years."

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"Lesser Reliance on the U.S. Would Also Facilitate Our Breaking Free from Its Suffocating Embrace…; Let Us… Set Our Sights on Further Strengthening Our Ties with Genuine Friends Like China, Others in the Muslim World"

"Meanwhile, military sources have asserted that they should be able to continue fighting the war without the U.S. help. We must realize that lesser reliance on the U.S. would also facilitate our breaking free from its suffocating embrace. It has made us suffer the humiliation of an open violation of sovereignty and poses a threat to our security. It should be remembered that the cut in aid neatly fits in with the aggressive policies of President Obama.

"Our strong reaction to the murder of two Pakistanis by CIA contractor Raymond Davis and the clandestine nightly raid to take out Al-Qaeda chief [Osama bin Laden], the arrogant and domineering posture of Secretary Clinton, Army Chief Mullen, and Senator Kerry towards Pakistan, the U.S. anger at our insistence to withdraw 100 US spies operating in the garb of trainers and the strict restriction we have imposed on the number of visas issued to U.S. personnel – all these are manifestations of a bilateral relations threatening to break under the strain.

"Let us not buckle under the pressure of this onslaught and like a self-respecting nation boldly bear it and set our sights on further strengthening our ties with genuine friends like China, others in the Muslim world and beyond."

"Pakistan has Suffered… Losses Running into Staggering Some $68 Billion…; We Indeed would be Far Well Off Without This Mythical U.S. Aid; With Pittance, They have Already Shoved Us into Hell"

Following are excerpts from the Frontier Post editorial:[6]

"It could be no surprise, this stoppage of the American military aid. A debt-ridden America fighting a costly lost Afghan war has not just been making a scapegoat of Pakistan for its collapses in that battle. Unrelentingly, it has also been twisting its arm to stick its neck out and somehow pull its chestnuts out of the fire in Afghanistan. But what to speak of Pakistan, not even the world's armies together can now bail out America from that quagmire, so awry has gone its Afghan foray. For America's foibles, failures, and shenanigans in Afghanistan, Pakistan has got enough on its own plate to contend with…

"[The U.S. military generals] are getting away with their monkeyshine unscathed and unharmed for the sheer ineptitude and lackadaisicalness of an Islamabad establishment that hates to speak up even when this country, its leaderships, its institutions, its military, and its intelligence agencies are vilified, demonized, and pilloried wholesale by the aliens shrilly and churlishly.

"It is for this inept establishment that the U.S. myth of $20 billion of U.S. aid to Pakistan stays a myth, unbroken and unravelled. Not even an amount anywhere in near proximity of this sum has been provided in aid to Pakistan over this long period of ten years, or since this country was roped in the U.S.-led patently false war on terror. And whatever had come in to Pakistan was mostly in reimbursement of what it had spent on this American war from its own treasury. Quite a hefty sum of that imbursement is still stuck up on the American floors for repayment. Over the period, on the other hand, Pakistan has suffered on account of this deceitful war economic losses running into staggering some $68 billion…

"The schisms that this disingenuous war has driven into our national unity, cohesion, and solidarity are an unbearable painful extra. By every consideration, we indeed would be far well off without this mythical U.S. aid. With pittance, they have already shoved us into hell. And with pittance they now want to push our hand into an inferno. And not even the posterity would forgive this Islamabad establishment if for once it doesn't muster up the pluck and doesn't stand up even now. Say it must to the Americans: thank you for stopping your aid; but now leave us alone to clear the cruel mess that you have created for us by your spectacular collapse in Afghanistan…"

"Pakistan's Military and the ISI have been Looking to Fulfill Their Plan for the Afghan Endgame to Insert the Taliban in Power After the U.S. Withdrawal"

Following are excerpts from the Daily Times editorial:[7]

"In response to Pakistan's attempts to reverse the carte blanche given by it to the Americans during the Musharraf regime, the U.S. has withheld over a third of the military aid – $800 million – to Pakistan this year. In principle, it is perfectly within the realm of propriety for Pakistan to roll back undue U.S. influence in the country, but how to do it is a question of debate. Things had been souring between the U.S. and Pakistan over some time, which became manifest in the Raymond Davis case.

"Moreover, Pakistan's military and the ISI have been looking to fulfill their plan for the Afghan endgame to insert the Taliban in power after the U.S. withdrawal. Although the U.S. is engaging with the Taliban for a negotiated political settlement, it has completely bypassed Pakistan. This also became a point of friction. All these things have been accumulating and the crowning feather of the Pak-U.S. rift was the Abbottabad incident [the killing of Osama bin Laden on May 2]. When Pakistan faced embarrassment both domestically and internationally following the Abbottabad raid, in a fit of nationalism, the military accelerated the process of cutting back ties with the U.S. - it sent back American military trainers; the number of visas issued to the U.S. personnel was reduced; and intelligence sharing stopped altogether.

"Following the raid, suspicion and accusations of complicity were being hurled around in the U.S. Congress and the media. Despite the U.S. administration's efforts to somehow prevent a complete breakdown of relations due to the overall strategic stakes in the region, the trend of opinion was running against Pakistan and, as predicted, the tap has finally been turned off by withholding the aid. The army is trying to put a positive spin on it by saying that we can do without the U.S. aid. If indeed the military [can] sustain without foreign aid, why did it keep receiving it and burdened itself, and the country, with an uneasy relationship?"

"Pakistan's Dependence on the U.S., However Galling, is a Reality; We Cannot Get Rid of It Overnight Without Hurting Ourselves Immeasurably"

"There are sections which believe that Pakistan should turn towards China to replace the U.S. However, China has its reservations about our conduct, and time and again tried to tell Pakistan to stop exporting jihad, improve relations with neighbors, and concentrate on building the country internally. They are not inclined to offer monetary aid to Pakistan. Therefore, there is a need to realistically assess our options.

"Pakistan's dependence on the U.S., however galling, is a reality. We cannot get rid of it overnight without hurting ourselves immeasurably. The U.S. is the only superpower in the world today, and it has vast clout and influence. It can persuade the international financial institutions to stop giving loans to Pakistan. What will Pakistan's strategy be, with an economy teetering on the brink, to deal with such an eventuality?

"Pakistan needs to renegotiate the terms of engagement with the U.S. but use the leverage it has, being the major supply route of NATO troops in Afghanistan, intelligently and through a well thought out strategy, to recover some of the space it has conceded in a relatively one-sided relationship. Knee-jerk reactions will only damage Pakistan. Last but not least, Pakistan must realize that the export of the jihad enterprise has outlived its utility, and respond to the imperatives of the current age."