http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/09/AR2010050902447.html?wpisrc=nl_pmopinions
Why Pakistan keeps exporting jihad
By Fareed Zakaria
Monday, May 10, 2010
Faisal Shahzad, the would-be terrorist of Times Square, seems to have followed
a familiar path. Like many recruits to jihad, he was middle-class, educated,
seemingly assimilated -- and then something happened that radicalized him. We
may never be sure what made him want to kill innocent men, women and children.
But his story shares another important detail with those of many of his
predecessors: a connection to Pakistan.
The British government has estimated that 70 percent of the terror plots it has
uncovered in the past decade can be traced to Pakistan. That country remains a
terrorist hothouse even as jihadism is losing favor elsewhere in the Muslim
world. From Egypt to Jordan to Malaysia to Indonesia, radical Islamic groups
have been weakened militarily and have lost much of the support they had
politically. Why not in Pakistan? The answer is simple: From its founding, the
Pakistani government has supported and encouraged jihadi groups, creating an
atmosphere that has allowed them to flourish. It appears to have partially
reversed course in recent years, but the rot is deep.
For a wannabe terrorist shopping for help, Pakistan is a supermarket. There are
dozens of jihadi organizations: Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba, al-Qaeda,
Jalaluddin, Siraj Haqqani's network and Tehrik-e-Taliban. The list goes on.
Some of the major ones, such as the Kashmiri separatist group Lashkar-e-Taiba,
operate openly via front groups throughout the country. But none seem to have
any difficulty getting money and weapons.
The Pakistani scholar-politician Husain Haqqani tells in his brilliant history
"Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military" how the government's jihadist
connections date to the country's creation as an ideological, Islamic state and
the decision by successive governments to use jihad both to gain domestic
support and to hurt its perennial rival, India. Describing the military's
distinction between terrorists and "freedom fighters," he notes that the
problem is systemic. "This duality . . . is a structural problem, rooted in
history and a consistent policy of the state. It is not just the inadvertent
outcome of decisions by some governments." That Haqqani is now Pakistan's
ambassador to Washington adds an ironic twist to the story. (And a sad one,
because the elected government he represents appears to have little power. The
military has actually gained strength over the past year.)
In recent months Pakistan's government and military have taken tougher actions
than ever against terrorists on their soil -- and Pakistani troops have
suffered grievously. Yet the generals continue to make a dubious distinction
among terrorists. Those who threaten and attack the people of Pakistan have
suffered the wrath of the Pakistani army. But then there are groups that
threaten and attack only Afghans, Indians and Westerners -- and those groups
have largely been left alone.
Consider the tribal area where Faisal Shahzad is said to have trained on his
visits to Pakistan: North Waziristan, where the deadliest groups that attack
Afghans, Indians and Westerners hole up. Although last year the Pakistani
military took the fight to South Waziristan, a haven for groups that have
launched attacks inside Pakistan, the generals have refused to go into the
North, despite repeated entreaties from the United States and NATO. As far as
the Pakistani military is concerned, there's always a compelling reason why now
isn't the right time to go there. And the respected Pakistani journalist Ahmed
Rashid, an expert on the Afghan insurgency, recently wrote in The Post that
Pakistan continues to have influence with the Afghan Taliban and is using that
leverage to force the Kabul government to do its bidding rather than to broker
a peace between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
Until the Pakistani military truly takes on a more holistic view of the
country's national interests -- one that sees economic development, not
strategic gamesmanship against Afghanistan and India, as the key to Pakistan's
security -- terrorists will continue to find Pakistan an ideal place to go
shopping.
Over the past four decades, much Islamic terrorism has been traced to two
countries: Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Both were founded as ideological, Islamic
states; the governments sought legitimacy by reinforcing that religious
ideology, and that made the countries hothouses of militancy, fundamentalism
and jihad. That trend is slowly being reversed in Saudi Arabia, perhaps because
King Abdullah could make it happen as the enlightened ruler of an absolute
monarchy. It may not be so easy for Pakistan to overcome its jihadist past.
Fareed Zakaria is editor of Newsweek International. His e-mail address is
[email protected].
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