The Quest for American Popularity in Pakistan

The battle over "hearts and minds" is a frequent refrain in Washington these days as public diplomacy efforts gather momentum. Karen Hughes, has been given this unenviable task of trying to improve the popularity of America worldwide, with a special focus on the Muslim World. Perhaps the need for popularity is most prescient in Pakistan given its strategic location and its nuclear "might."

During his recent visit to Pakistan, President Bush chose to engage in a cricket match with local youth to charm the public. His trip was doomed to criticism because Pakistanis are in perpetual denial about their asymmetric competition with India. On the positive side, the headlines across Pakistani TV channels, including the ever-popular Geo-Urdu network were about the President’s cricket match. Shallow as this may seem to the cynics, cricket diplomacy has a long and venerable history in South Asia. It was cricket that eased tensions between India and Pakistan during the Zia years when the late president flew over to India to watch a match in 1987. Even the recent rapprochement between the two rivals was sealed with cricket matches in which the audience carried both Indian and Pakistani flags together. Many of the madrassah children that I interviewed for my recent research are avid cricket players and will certainly appreciate this gesture of connection.

While public diplomacy of this kind is positive there are still other points which have not yet been scored by the US administration. It is naive for pundits in Washington to assume that people in Pakistan will merely respond to such measures alone. Public diplomacy may melt some icy precepts in Pakistan but American ideals will still flounder in the murky waters of conspiracy theories until there is tangible movement towards regional reconciliation.

America’s opportunity to build better ties with Pakistanis following the earthquake in October of 2005 has been largely missed. Much of the goodwill that American aid and helicopters would have brought was lost with the Bijaur bombing in January of 2006. The reluctance of the American administration to apologize for loss of civilian lives in this incident added insult to injury.

In recent US statements there has still been no mention of efforts to resolve the Kashmir conflict, and any mediating role which might be played by the US in this territorial dispute was avoided. There was also little admonition of President Musharraf for not following a democratic path for fear that such a trajectory might lead to an outcome similar to the Palestinian election. However, the fanatics in Pakistan can be quelled perhaps most effectively through democratization. President Musharraf claims that empowerment of the population beyond feudalism is essential before full democratization. Yet it is not clear how people are supposed to feel empowered when every government decision is draped in military and security expediency. The only way out of this cold war trap is for America and Europe to facilitate a lasting solution to regional South Asian conflicts.

Even if Kashmir sounds too intractable for US mediation, America could at least engage on smaller subsets of this conflict such as the senseless dispute between India and Pakistan on the uninhabited Siachen glacier. In this regard, the US National Science Foundation has indeed played a positive role in funding the first joint workshop for Pakistani and Indian scientists on glaciology of the Siachen (the largest glacier in the Himalayas). Efforts in mediating this conflict could also have other positive spillovers for President Bush as this is a serious environmental concern as well. The Himalayan glaciers
are a source of melt-water for millions of people and studying their recession in recent years is exceedingly important for ensuring water security in both countries (refer to www.k2peacepark.org )

As we celebrate the business allure of India, let us not forget the central role Pakistan played in cementing ties between America and that other business giant, China. It was from that same airport in Islamabad where President Bush landed with lights out that Henry Kissinger had secretly flown to Beijing for meetings with Chinese officials more than thirty years ago. Just as Pakistan had helped the US mediate one of its most serious geopolitical conflicts, perhaps the US can reciprocate in kind. India must also be more amenable to such mediation. It is delusional for Indian politicians to assume that Kashmir is still just an internal problem just as much as it was for Indonesians to assume that East Timor was a domestic island dispute. External mediation from Portugal was essential in dispute resolution in that case and indeed given the lack of trust between parties, external mediation will also be essential in the Kashmir dispute. Britain and the United States are essential for this mediation process to commence and would be the best card for a popularity contest in the Muslim world.

America has of course played an important historical role in Indo-Pak conflicts which could also be resurrected as an example of US "favors" towards Pakistan. In a recent public speech Jinnah’s personal assistant during his final years, revealed how the ailing leader had secured US support in 1947 for Pakistan that had prevented an escalation of conflict following independence. Of course American support for the Afghan Mujahideen, which is so frequently used to malign American policy, could just as well be used to show how the US has also favored Muslim struggles. Regretably this argument is not articulated soundly by US policy makers because they are afraid to be labeled as the ones who brought Osama bin Laden to power. However, revisiting the narratives of the day could provide some positive twist for US efforts to convince Muslims that they are not always the recipients of bombs but of aid and armed assistance. Indeed by this measure they could just as well accuse Osama of ingratitude and opportunism for biting the hand that fed him. There is no question that without US support the mujahideen would have never succeeded in their struggle against the Soviets.

At the end of the day, Pakistanis must realize that the US, like all countries will have its strategic interests and cannot be considered a philanthropic fund. However, Americans must also consider the importance of tangible progress towards resolution of disputes, coupled with gestures of goodwill, as the primrose way to popularity.