Big Brother

Over the years, I have heard my Indian friends complain about how unfair and partial US is. How it keeps giving aid to Pakistan even though Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism in India! How blind-sighted US is when it comes to Pakistan! After 9/11 attacks, we all sat up and thought that, now US will realize how stupid it has been in providing aid to a country that sponsors terrorism. But to no avail. And then as terrorist started concentrating inside the Pakistan border, we thought may be now US support to Pakistan will stop. But no. Then Taliban started raising its head in Pakistan. And US gave yet another aid to Pakistan! We think that US is blind-sighted. It’s being stupid in giving aid to Pakistan. But is it so? Do you really think US is that stupid? Honestly?

Well let’s take a step back from Indo-Pak relation and see the world politics from US perspective. Let’s start in 1940s. As we all know (or I am assuming), after World War II the world was divided in two super powers and we ventured into era of cold war between these two super powers. Coincidentally, at the same time Indian partition took place. If you have seen a world map, you will notice that we are geographically very close to  former USSR which made our stand in this power balance of the world a bit crucial. China was already a communist state. Next big state in Asia was India. Now our leaders in that period started favoring USSR over USA, which made USA start looking for allies in the region. Someone who can cause trouble for us and disrupt our progress (remember Vietnam war, West and East Germany, North and South Korea?). And it found one in Pakistan and with that started the influx of financial as well as military aid to Pakistan. The ties strengthened when USSR attacked Afghanistan. US was simply looking out for itself. It didn’t have any personal grudge against us. It was simply wary of our relationship with Soviet Union.

Now let’s come back to present. There is no USSR anymore and Russia doesn’t pose as much threat to USA. However, the two fastest growing economies of the world are still in the same region: China and India. As much as I understand world politics, US is more threatened by China than it is by India. However, India does remain in its watch list. Add on to it, its past wariness of India as a friend of communists as well as all the outsourcing issues and migration of businesses to India.

Now tell me, do you sincerely think USA is going to stop aiding Pakistan any time soon?

And here we are thinking US is blind-sighted, and even stupid, for supporting Pakistan. For some reason, we want the Big Brother to be fair. We want it to support us as we are the good kids and Pakistan isn’t. I think, it’s high time that we grow up and stop expecting US to put world peace above it’s self interest. It has never done that and it never will. That’s what we call capitalism! So let’s stop whining about what US should or shouldn’t do. Let’s start thinking about what we should or shouldn’t do.

Disclaimer: This post is not about Americans but US government’s policy. I personally know Americans who are against these policies. And quite a few who has no clue about US policy in the region. I am criticizing US policies here and not American people who are indeed fair and honest.

P.S.: I  know that US is now feeling the burn of terrorism themselves. But again they think they will be able to handle it. They created that monster so they can kill it too. Plus the fight is so far away from their home, they don’t suffer the daily killing of their civilians on their own soil.