Tony Blair described America as a "difficult friend." That Pakistan's experience is no different has been evident from the time Ayub Khan wanted the US to be a friend and not master. Yet, the fact that the master-servant relationship has continued was again confirmed by Pervez Musharraf's startling disclosure that the Americans had threatened to bomb his country into the stone age if it did not join
the US war against Islamic terrorism.
Rarely before has the leader of a country and a military dictator to boot admitted to being so rudely insulted by a putative friend. It is obvious that Musharraf was taking a huge risk at the domestic level by his candid confession. He must have known that his opponents back home will seize the opportunity to portray him as a servile supplicant, who is ready to swallow an insult to keep his lord and master in good humour.
As it is, Pakistan has always been known for anti-American sentiments at the ground level. The anti-American mood has become worse in the aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. To the average Muslim in Pakistan, as elsewhere in the Islamic countries from North Africa and West Asia to South-east Asia, the American action is aimed
at humiliating the Muslims in the name of fighting terrorism. So, Musharraf's revelation will hardly enhance his domestic position.
Why, then, did he spill the beans? He could have easily kept silent, for his humiliation was known only to himself, the Americans and perhaps a few countries close to Washington. He couldn't have done it only to make his self-adulatory autobiography, In the Line of Fire, sell since he has referred to the incident in it. Since he is looking
to continue in office even after next year's elections, he would have been well advised to keep the subject under wraps and not provide such an effective campaigning point to his adversaries, including the two former prime ministers, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.
What the confession also made clear was that Pakistan must have initially resisted American efforts to enlist it in the war against terror. For, if Islamabad had willingly collaborated right from the start, Washington wouldn't have had the need to issue such a dire warning. But Islamabad must have appeared reluctant, which is not surprising considering its longstanding ties with the Taliban and its
strategic blueprint to use Afghanistan as a zone of retreat in case of a war with India. Besides, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda provided training grounds as well as the jehadis for fighting in Kashmir.
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