The US keeps playing with Pakistan. This time, it’s to get back at Pakistan for the “most humiliating defeat in history,” which was actually caused by the Taliban but “credited” to Pakistan.
Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act of 2021
On September 27, 22 Republican senators, including Mitt Romney, who ran for president in 2012, pushed a bill through the Senate. The bill, which is called the “Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act of 2021,” would put sanctions on both the Taliban and Pakistan. It requires the Secretary of State to give a report on Pakistan’s help for the Taliban within 180 days of the Act being signed into law.
The report must include information about how state and non-state actors in Pakistan helped Taliban between 2001-2010, including “sanctuary space, financial support, intelligence support, logistics, medical support, training, equipment, and tactical, operational, or strategic direction.” It must also figure out what part Pakistan played in helping Taliban overthrow the government of Ashraf Ghani and take over Panjshir.
The bill gives US President the power to put sanctions on “any foreign person who has provided support to any terrorist group in Afghanistan, engaged in serious human rights abuses,” or “played a role in drug trafficking” in country. The measures would stop people from buying or selling property, from coming to US, and from using visas they already have. Also, sanctions that are already in place against the Taliban would stay in place, and US’s allies would be urged to do the same.
History is repeating itself
The history of ties between Pakistan and US is a sad story of US putting sanctions on Pakistan, easing them, taking them off, putting them back on, and so on.
The 1965 suspension of military assistance affected Pakistan more severely because of Islamabad’s heavier dependence on Washington.
In 1947, US and Pakistan set up formal ties. Pakistan’s location on a route that connects important parts of South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, and China gave it a unique place as a gateway to these areas. The US agreed to help Pakistan with its economy and defence, and Pakistan joined Baghdad Pact, CENTO, and SEATO when it was just getting started as a country. This was their first date, and it set the stage for a long and difficult relationship between two countries.
US trained Pakistani nuclear scientists
As a result of the Cold War, the US saw India as a possible alternative to communist China and the Soviet Union. It tried to make friends with India, ignored its young nuclear programme, and even gave it nuclear technology through the Atoms for Peace programme. Pakistani nuclear scientists were also taught by the US, and Pakistan got a nuclear research reactor from the US. But during the Indo-Pakistan war in 1965, the US stopped giving Pakistan armed help. Even though the suspension impacted both India and Pakistan equally, it hurt Pakistan more because Islamabad is more dependent on Washington. The ban stayed in place until 1975, when sales of guns were finally allowed to start up again. In May 1974, India put the Smiling Buddha through a test firing. This gave Pakistan’s nuclear programme a boost and led the US to pass laws against spreading nuclear weapons.
Imposition of sanctions on Pakistan
The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 was changed by the Symington Amendment in 1976. This change stopped the US from giving most kinds of economic and military aid to any country that gave or got nuclear enrichment equipment, materials, or technology that wasn’t protected by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The next year, Congress added the Glenn Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act. This meant that the US couldn’t help any country that didn’t have nuclear weapons but had a nuclear blast. India and Pakistan did not lose their rights because of the Symington and Glenn changes. Congress passed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Act in 1978. This law made it illegal to send nuclear technology to countries that don’t have nuclear weapons unless those countries agreed to full IAEA controls. The Act also said that any state that tried to get unprotected technology could be punished. Pakistan was hit with these penalties right away. In April 1979, President Carter put economic and military sanctions on Pakistan because Islamabad was quietly building a place to enrich uranium, which was against the Symington Amendment. (These sanctions did not stop foreign financial institutions from giving aid in the form of grants and loans to help feed people)
Change in US attitude towards Pakistan
In December 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the US suddenly and drastically changed how it felt about Pakistan. Due to concerns about national security, the US lifted the sanctions above, even though there was proof that Pakistan was working on a nuclear weapons programme. This was clearly meant to get Pakistan ready for a role against the Soviets in Afghanistan, and it marked the second honeymoon in their relationship with each other. In 1981, the US passed a $3.2 billion military and economic aid programme for Pakistan. The goal was to help Pakistan deal with the growing threat to security in the area and meet its own needs for economic growth. In March 1986, a $4 billion plan like this one was given the green light for the years 1988-1993. Ironically, while the US Administration was trying to get a Pakistan that could make nuclear weapons to help fight the war in Afghanistan, Congress was busy making scaffolding for the people who spread nuclear weapons. During the Afghan Jihad, Congress passed the Pressler Amendment (1985) to the Foreign Assistance Act, which helped Pakistan. This amendment stopped most economic and military aid to Pakistan unless the US President could swear every year that “Pakistan did not have a nuclear weapon and that US aid would make it less likely for Pakistan to have a nuclear weapon.” Even though Pakistan told the world in 1984 that it could enrich uranium for nuclear bombs and in 1987 that it could put together a nuclear device, the US kept saying that Pakistan was not a nuclear power until 1990. Ironically, while the US Administration was trying to get a Pakistan that could make nuclear weapons to help fight the war in Afghanistan, Congress was busy making scaffolding for the people who spread nuclear weapons. During the Afghan Jihad, Congress passed the Pressler Amendment (1985) to the Foreign Assistance Act, which helped Pakistan. This amendment stopped most economic and military aid to Pakistan unless the US President could swear every year that “Pakistan did not have a nuclear weapon and that US aid would make it less likely for Pakistan to have a nuclear weapon.” Even though Pakistan told the world in 1984 that it could enrich uranium for nuclear bombs and in 1987 that it could put together a nuclear device, the US kept saying that Pakistan was not a nuclear power until 1990.
