Author: Abdul Jabbar
Affiliation: City College of San Francisco
Organization/Publisher: Counter Currents
Date/Place: April 17, 2022/ Kerala, India
Type of Literature: Analysis
Word Count: 1850
Link: https://countercurrents.org/2022/04/u-s-role-in-pakistans-political-crisis/
Keywords: Pakistan, US, Regime Change, Iran, Egypt, Chile, Russia, China, Imran Khan
Brief:
The author, an American of Pakistani descent and political science professor, analyses and forecasts the emphatic return of Imran Khan as prime minister of Pakistan. He itemizes points of evidence indicating that Khan was removed from office as a result of a US regime change operation through local collaborators, verifying what the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf political party chief has claimed.
The author draws attention to Washington’s history of regime change operations in many nations, including but not limited to Iran, Egypt, and Chile. In these cases, the professor details how the US has consistently employed what he terms “indirect colonialism,” in which “local brown-skinned self-seeking, nation-betraying leaders” are used to “sacrifice national interest for the sake of self-advancement.” “The colonizer does not have to spend its resources on launching a formal invasion to occupy a country. Local corrupt politicians prostitute national interest to do the colonizer’s bidding,” he explains. The regime-change operation in Pakistan likewise involved a collegium of corruption-tainted opponents of Khan and dissident members of Khan’s own party, whose calendar of activities revealed continuous engagement with US Consular staff. They subsequently submitted a no-confidence motion in the Pakistan National Assembly on March 8th. A day earlier, US Assistant Secretary of State for the South Donald Lu had hurled warnings that if Khan was not removed “Pakistan will pay the cost.” The US initially denied sending any such “threat,” but then acknowledged that there was communication and that it was normal to use “strong language”, and that the reference was to Pakistan suffering economically. But such language is to be taken seriously in light of prior State Department threats, including a threat from Henry Kissinger to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1977 that “We will make an example of you.” Khan’s predecessor and his democratic government were overthrown by then Pakistan army chief Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, who hanged Bhutto to death by the military junta. Khan had been pursuing an independent foreign policy much like Bhutto. The author concludes by summarizing some of the initiatives taken by the former Khan-led administration to steer Pakistan out of begging bowl syndrome despite the pandemic hitting the global and domestic economies hard.
By: Riyaz ul Khaliq, CIGA Non-resident Research Associate
