Since Pakistan joined the US camp, Pakistani soil has been a base for covert operations. Ayub regime provided an airbase at Badaber near Peshawar, to CIA for the use of U-2 planes. These planes used to make regular overflights across the Soviet Union beyond the range of Soviet anti-aircraft guns, using onboard cameras and recorders to monitor Soviet communication and military deployment. Gary Power’s U-2 was shot down with a missile over the Soviet Union. This exposed the whole operation to the world.
Gen Ziaul Haq provided the US with training camps and aided the effort to hijack the Afghan liberation struggle and turn it into an Islamic jihad, led by Osama bin Laden whose names are now anathema to US and its allies. During Benazir’s second term, the Pakistani establishment at the behest of the US organised the Taliban. After 9/11 the government led by Gen. Pervez Musharraf bowed down and accepted the unjust demands of US government.
This capitulation was the commencement of the creeping, silent invasion of Pakistan by Americans. Five air bases were provided to the US forces. The Pakistan army was deployed along the western border and the tribal areas. Military action was employed as a first option in the tribal areas leaving no room for an alternative course of action when the military operation failed.
Pakistan army’s casualties were in thousands. Obeying the order to ‘do more’ opened the flood gates of death and destruction throughout the length and breadth of Pakistan. Finally, the US policy has succeeded. Their war had become ours.
By Dr Rasheed Hasan Khan
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