OPINION:America's relationship with Pakistan is difficult at best and filled with mutual suspicion at worst, writes ROB CRILLYin Islamabad
IT IS not difficult to imagine what went through the mind of at least one passenger as she sat waiting for United Airlines flight 727 to take off from Washington Dulles Airport for Tampa.
The accent might have made it hard to understand – he was from the Middle East maybe, Muslim probably, and certainly a foreigner – but his words seemed to imply a deadly threat . . . something about taking a “final flight”.
The cabin crew was summoned amid a passenger rebellion. No one wanted to take the risk of flying with this man and his seven swarthy companions on board.
They were whisked off the plane and subjected to further checks.
Only then did the truth emerge. They were members of Pakistan’s top brass: a military delegation of senior officers on their way to a meeting at US central command. References to a “final flight” were merely the words of a tired traveller hoping that they would soon arrive at journey’s end.
The episode would have been comical, were it not for the racist assumptions of the passengers and what it says about the awkward relations between the US and a key ally in the war on terror.
Islamabad and its military are essential to meaningful progress in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s role is to mop up safe havens in its lawless tribal areas and help secure the border to prevent Taliban and al-Qaeda shuttling back and forth. Yet the relationship between the two governments and their publics is fraught with distrust.
After the humiliation of being marched off the plane, the officers called their superiors in Pakistan, and were ordered to return home in short order. Talks are now under way to reschedule the trip and smooth over the tensions between two countries that need each other more than they care to admit.
It will not be easy.
As the Pakistani delegation was making its way back to Pakistan, Nato’s top commander in Afghanistan was repeating allegations that its most important ally in the region is backing militant groups. Gen David Petraeus articulated the suspicion of many in his government that Pakistan continues to command and control attacks on Afghan soil.
Every repetition of the charge hits a raw nerve in the Pakistani military, which feels its very real sacrifices are not recognised.
So too, the people of Pakistan who bear the brunt of terrorist attacks carried out by militants headquartered on their land yet feel they are viewed with suspicion when they travel abroad.
The last week has been filled with reminders of their burden. On Wednesday, 35 people died when suicide bombers struck in Lahore.
On Friday, Quetta and Peshawar were the targets.
Is America, Pakistanis wonder, really a friend when their relatives are subjected to extra security searches at US airports?
And if not, then why are their troops training Pakistani forces and their government pouring billions of dollars of aid into the country?
Is there an ulterior motive?
In short, the relationship is difficult at best, filled with mutual suspicion at worst.
The Pakistani government, unsure of its grip on a country that views the West with increasing hostility, is reluctant to make the public case for closer relations even as it sucks up billions of dollars in US aid and allows the CIA to pilot drones through its skies.
At the same time, Washington is sharing intelligence with a military that it suspects harbours elements that are working against its interests.
For the truth is that America desperately needs Pakistan to fight its regional war against insurgents who show no sign of giving up.
Pakistani soldiers will only become more important as President Obama tries to bring his troops home.
And Islamabad’s spy chiefs – with their long-standing connections to jihadi groups they once mobilised against the Soviets – will have a central role in brokering a future accommodation between the Taliban and President Karzai’s government as it becomes clear the war cannot be won.
The least America can do is treat Pakistan’s military with some respect and try to be more honest about its awkward friend.