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Dr Farrukh Saleem
Sunday, May 08, 2011
On September 3, 2008, helicopter-borne elements of Task Force 88, a hunter-killer special operations team tasked to take down Al-Qaeda and the Taliban command structure, conducted a raid deep into Pakistani territory. On September 6, Pakistan closed the Torkham border crossing.
On February 3, 2009, Natos supply route was, once again, shut down after the Taliban detonated explosives and destroyed a vital bridge. On September 30, 2010, Nato crossed into Pakistan and a military checkpoint came under attack. Three Pakistani soldiers were killed. Pakistan shut down Natos supply line.
On April 24, 2011, Imran Khan delivered his ultimatum: If drone strikes inside Pakistan do not stop within 30 days protestors will block all Nato supply routes across Pakistan.
What is our military strategy? They raid deep into our territory; we shut down their supply route. They send in drones; we shut down their supply route. Kerry-Lugar is bad. Raymond Davis is bad shut down their supply route. They are destabilising Pakistan. They are after our nuclear assets shut down their supply route.
Do we have a military strategy? A military strategy is a set of ideas implemented by military organisations to pursue desired goals. A military strategy is also defined as the art and science of employing the armed forces of a nation to secure the objectives of national policy.
We seem to have only one antidote to all American poisons. Or do we? What if the lone superpower builds an air-bridge? Remember; the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) erected the India-China Ferry during World War 2. On June 21, 1948, the Soviets blocked a US military supply train to Berlin. The United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) erected the great Berlin Airlift.
To be certain, there would be a time when America will need neither the Quetta-Chaman-Spin Boldak/Kandahar nor the Khyber Pass channels. What will be our military strategy then?
Noam Chomsky, the father of modern linguistics and professor emeritus at the MIT, wrote Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media in which Chomsky analyses the propaganda model used by secret agencies to manufacture consent. Revisiting the debate on Kerry-Lugar, Raymond Davis or the ongoing propaganda model regarding drones it is clear that an anti-American sentiment is manufactured in an attempt to leverage Pakistans negotiating position vis-à-vis the US. This strategy of manufacturing anti-Americanism does not serve Pakistans long-term national interests and as a military strategy this manufacturing will have dangerous repercussions for Pakistans civilian population.
Furthermore, a National Security Strategy woven around the protection of an individual considered to be the most dangerous terrorist by the lone superpower is deeply flawed.
Successful military strategists insist that however beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results and that in strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things. What is needed is a comprehensive Swot Analysis of Pakistans strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and a military strategy based on Swot.
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com
Dr Farrukh Saleem
Sunday, May 08, 2011
On September 3, 2008, helicopter-borne elements of Task Force 88, a hunter-killer special operations team tasked to take down Al-Qaeda and the Taliban command structure, conducted a raid deep into Pakistani territory. On September 6, Pakistan closed the Torkham border crossing.
On February 3, 2009, Natos supply route was, once again, shut down after the Taliban detonated explosives and destroyed a vital bridge. On September 30, 2010, Nato crossed into Pakistan and a military checkpoint came under attack. Three Pakistani soldiers were killed. Pakistan shut down Natos supply line.
On April 24, 2011, Imran Khan delivered his ultimatum: If drone strikes inside Pakistan do not stop within 30 days protestors will block all Nato supply routes across Pakistan.
What is our military strategy? They raid deep into our territory; we shut down their supply route. They send in drones; we shut down their supply route. Kerry-Lugar is bad. Raymond Davis is bad shut down their supply route. They are destabilising Pakistan. They are after our nuclear assets shut down their supply route.
Do we have a military strategy? A military strategy is a set of ideas implemented by military organisations to pursue desired goals. A military strategy is also defined as the art and science of employing the armed forces of a nation to secure the objectives of national policy.
We seem to have only one antidote to all American poisons. Or do we? What if the lone superpower builds an air-bridge? Remember; the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) erected the India-China Ferry during World War 2. On June 21, 1948, the Soviets blocked a US military supply train to Berlin. The United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) erected the great Berlin Airlift.
To be certain, there would be a time when America will need neither the Quetta-Chaman-Spin Boldak/Kandahar nor the Khyber Pass channels. What will be our military strategy then?
Noam Chomsky, the father of modern linguistics and professor emeritus at the MIT, wrote Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media in which Chomsky analyses the propaganda model used by secret agencies to manufacture consent. Revisiting the debate on Kerry-Lugar, Raymond Davis or the ongoing propaganda model regarding drones it is clear that an anti-American sentiment is manufactured in an attempt to leverage Pakistans negotiating position vis-à-vis the US. This strategy of manufacturing anti-Americanism does not serve Pakistans long-term national interests and as a military strategy this manufacturing will have dangerous repercussions for Pakistans civilian population.
Furthermore, a National Security Strategy woven around the protection of an individual considered to be the most dangerous terrorist by the lone superpower is deeply flawed.
Successful military strategists insist that however beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results and that in strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things. What is needed is a comprehensive Swot Analysis of Pakistans strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and a military strategy based on Swot.
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com
