Naeem's Blog

When I first read CNN’s report on the FBI agents injured at the Islamabad restaurant, my first reaction was ‘What the hell were American FBI agents doing in Pakistan?’

Then I remembered that the two nations have a shared history where US resources (read CIA) were intimately involved with Pakistan in fighting the Cold War in the 80’s and the war on terror this decade (In the three years before the attacks of September 11, Pakistan received approximately $9 million in American military aid. In the three years after, the number increased to $4.2 billion - Wikipedia).

The Pakistani military has been a loyal customer of the US military industry complex, even getting shafted in 1990 when they paid $658 million for 28 fighter jets, but got neither the jets nor their money back due to America’s embargo against them for their nuclear weapons program. In actuality, that broken transaction pretty much sums up their one-sided relationship (unless you consider the critical role that Pakistanis play in sustaining America’s taxi and pizza delivery industries as a fair reciprocation).

So I googled ‘Pesky Americans sticking their fat noses into Pakistan’ and lo and behold, it came up with this WashPo piece explaining what the FBI agents were doing in Pakistan:

“a seven-member FBI team tasked with investigating bombings in the city of Lahore was in Islamabad at the time of the attack…The U.S.-led task force was called in to assist with an investigation into two coordinated bombings Tuesday in Lahore. At least 28 people were killed and more than 170 injured in an attack at the headquarters of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency.”

The Naeem of old would have gone off on the intrusive nature of the FBI’s activities with its overtones of paternalistic meddling and how America still retains its colonial master mindset. However, I’ve since learned rule number one in international politics - that every nation, especially aging superpowers who are constantly looking over their shoulders, will do whatever it takes to hold on to their power.

The sooner we come to terms with certain universal truths such as cellphones are the devil’s creation or men need women just as much as women need men or back hair is once again cool (folks, you heard it here first!) or more relevant to this post - America will always interfere in the affairs of sovereign nations as long as it involves safeguarding their superpower status, the sooner we will be able to redirect our energies away from reactionary tactics and towards a more proactive mindset revolving around core issues such as education, social reform, and women rights.

So the new Naeem says ‘oh well’ when he reads about the FBI in Pakistan and instead focuses on his little circle of influence.