Exhibit A:
“Pakistan-China Friendship is higher than mountains, deeper than oceans, stronger than steel and sweeter than honey,” a statement issued by the prime minister’s office quoted him as saying.
- Dawn newspaper, September 28, 2011
Exhibit B:
Cause it goes on and on, like a river flows
And it gets bigger, baby, and heaven knows
And it gets sweeter, baby, as it grows
Do I love you, my oh my
River deep, mountain high, yeah yeah yeah
- Tina Turner, River Deep Mountain High, 1966
More pictures of the epic views are in an upcoming Facebook album, but I loved this shot of these students taking a bus ride.
The local news has been fairly heavily dominated by the accusations that retiring Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen has made about ties between the Haqqani network and Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s CIA equivalent. The sudden outburst of rhetoric from the US about how Pakistan isn’t doing enough in the war on terror, is too closely linked with anti-American groups, and is interfering with Afghan sovereignty has me a bit frustrated.
The truth, as usual, is much more nuanced than what is being presented in the media back home. The Haqqani network probably does have pretty deep ties with the ISI. However, it also has very deep ties with the CIA. The network’s founder, Jalalludin Haqqani, was supported by the US government during the Afghan-Soviet war. If the ISI are terrorists by association, then so is the Reagan White House. If we are going to continue to criticize Pakistan’s establishment for its ties with some pretty disagreeable groups, then we need to examine the US government’s own connections to unsavory groups and vicious governments all over the world.
I also believe it is a disrespectful libel to continue to describe Pakistan as timid, unwilling to combat extremism or not “carrying its weight.” Total US military fatalities in Afghanistan are about 1700. Total Pakistani military fatalities just in combat in Khyber-Pakhtunkwa, the province where the US invasion pushed most of the Taliban and foreign militants who had been running the show in Afghanistan pre-2001, are about 3900.
That doesn’t include the military troops killed in very high-profile attacks on Pakistani military installations, including a suicide bombing near the headquarters of the Pakistani Navy (I’ve driven with feet of where he detonated) and the General Headquarters building, the Pakistani Army’s Pentagon, nor does it include the many Pakistani civilians killed in bomb blasts throughout the country, including a few years ago in a markaz (commercial area) a few blocks away from where I’m staying.
There is indisputable evidence that some extremists have managed to infiltrate the Pakistani armed forces. At the same time, US Army major Nidal Hasan killed 13 in the Fort Hood shooting in late 2009. I haven’t heard any suggestions that the US Army is no longer a reliable partner in the war on terrorism. With Pakistan’s proximity to such a huge group of radical extremists, of course there are going to be a larger number of such infiltrators. This isn’t a reason to cut off aid to Pakistan at all. In fact, it’s a reason to increase military aid, as the Pakistani military faces challenges that our own fortunately has largely avoided.
I am not saying that Pakistan, its government and military are perfect. Believe me, there are many valid criticisms of all three. However, the one-sided portrayal in the US media does not treat the issue with the nuance and context it deserves, nor does it often enough make clear the role that US foreign policy in the 1980s played in creating the terrorist groups we now expect Pakistan to play such a large role in defeating.
I am very happy to report that, although the layovers were long and extremely boring, my travels to Pakistan were extremely simple and straightforward. Kuwait Airways still knows how to run an international flight — I can’t believe how much better the food and service was than on my last transatlantic crossing, an Alitalia flight to Italy in 2007.
I got off the plane at Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Rawalpindi, the older sister city of the capital of Islamabad, at 4:45AM local time. I breezed through customs and didn’t have to answer a single question or open my bags for inspection at any point. My friend Danyal was waiting with his Dad’s Corolla and his grandfather’s driver to take me to his family home. I was so haggard from lack of sleep for the past 3 days that I wasn’t perfectly coherent at the time — I hope that I made more sense than I felt like I was at the time!
My first few days in Pakistan have mostly been dominated by trying to overcome my jet lag. I haven’t been as strongly affected on previous trips, but of course a 9-hour time difference is a bit more than what I experienced on previous trips to Western Europe. Other than sleeping, I’ve taken a few short driving tours of the city with Dan, met several members of his family, and even played a quick Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter/Mario Kart tournament with one of his friends.
Dan’s family lives on the north side of the capital city of Pakistan, Islamabad. It’s a heavily planned city that was purpose built as a new capital for Pakistan in the 1960s. The city is divided into a grid pattern with sectors named by number and letter. One of the highlights so far on the trip was taking a quick drive into a neighboring sector and getting a snack from the market with Dan. We had rolled paratha and banana shakes which were both excellent. A paratha is a very common flatbread on the subcontinent, in this case stuffed with melted cheese and grilled chicken along with some spices. I was especially intrigued by how it was served — Dan parked the car near a stall, went over and placed our order, and gave the man directions to where we were parked around the corner. After a short wait, a waiter dropped off our food and took our drink order, and only presenting us with a bill at the end of the meal.
Another small thing that has made quite the impression on me is the intriguing mix of local and international culture I observe. I know that in this highly globalized and interconnected world I shouldn’t be, but I was greatly amused to be driving through a crowded shopping district with Dan and hear and hear a restaurant blasting Rihanna’s “Umbrella.”
A brief misconception I’d like to clear up is about the climate — of course, by coming in late September I missed the peak heat, but I am much more comfortable at night here than I was during the past summer spent in Athens, Ohio. I haven’t touched the A/C once, as the super-powered ceiling fan has been more than enough to keep me cool while I sleep. (One of Danyal’s friends was surprised to learn that I had ceiling fans in my house in Buffalo. I guess it’s not just the Pakistani climate that is internationally misunderstood!) The fans here have a much higher top speed than any I’ve seen in the US, though — at full blast in a small room, it’s almost like standing in a wind tunnel. I’ve always liked some white noise when I sleep, so the fan has actually been very comforting. In fact, if I’m sleeping while the power goes out, the resulting silence usually wakes me up almost instantly.
Perhaps I should briefly detour to explain the power situation. Islamabad’s demand for electricity exceeds the supply, and in response, rolling blackouts eliminate the power for an hour at a time for a few hours each day. I have not been inconvenienced at all by any of these brownouts, although I am extremely happy that I packed a small windup LED flashlight.
Dan and I have already fallen back into our musical ways, performing a selection of Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix tunes for his sister’s friends with Dan on lead guitar and myself on vocals.
I’ve taken care of a few minor bits of business, as well. Perhaps the most challenging was getting T-Mobile to issue an unlock code for my phone so that I could use it off-network. (Something I should have taken care of before I left the US, but I thought that when I bought the phone on eBay it was advertised as carrier unlocked…) It took about a day to get them to send the code, but I now have local phone service, which is incredibly cheaply priced compared to service in the US. When I told Dan’s sister what I spent per month on cell service in the US, she told me that for the same amount I could probably get by for a year in Pakistan.
I’ll have much more to share over the coming days, but for now let me sign off my letting you know that I am extremely well fed, well rested and enjoying getting to know this city with my good friend and incomparable tour guide Danyal. I’ve noticed that right as I reached the country, several nasty comments about Pakistan hit the US papers. As you read about various US officials blasting Pakistan and its government, please keep in the back of your mind the incredible hospitality and generosity I have been shown so far, and know that any country is a far more complex and multifaceted beast than any mere government statement or news report could ever describe.
(Note: A previous version of this post erroneously referred to rolled paratha as “road paratha.”)
Here I am with Danyal Kamal, my good friend and a fellow Spartan alumnus. We’ve re-bonded over our love of sriracha sauce, messed up sleep schedules, and Super Nintendo emulators.
Just a quick update of where my travel plans are at right now:
All of my flights are booked! Here’s my full travel itinerary so you’ll know where I’ll be for the next few months:
I have recreated my site in WordPress in preparation for a daily blog that I will be hosting during a half-year sojourn overseas that will include stops in Pakistan, India and possibly several other countries. My trip will begin in September 2011. I won’t have a great deal to say until then, although if anything especially interesting comes up during my travel preparations, I will share it here.
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