09-14-2010, 05:21 PM
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[url="http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/6349/silencing-pakistans-conspiracy-mill"][center][size="6"][color="#006400"]Silencing Pakistan's Conspiracy Mill[/color][/size][/center][/url]
Earlier this summer, as U.S. Army helicopters began evacuating stranded people from Pakistan's flood-ravaged northwest, one Pakistani newspaper chose to focus on a more sinister dimension of American military activity in the country.
According to sources cited in an article in the Pakistani daily, the Nation, Washington is constructing a "huge base" in Islamabad to "control" South Asia. American soldiers and "personnel of Blackwater" will soon arrive, with a Guantanamo Bay-style detention camp to follow. The article noted that the base lies near Pakistani nuclear sites, offering "all kinds of opportunities" for Washington.
While many Pakistanis reject such talk, many others, particularly members of the country's free-wheeling media organizations, peddle it so frequently that it has inspired a joke: The only growth industry in Pakistan is the conspiracy theory.
The most troubling conspiracy theories are those that hold America -- and especially its security contractors, intelligence agents, and journalists -- directly responsible for Pakistan's violence and terrorism. Such accusations are deeply problematic for the United States, because they help drive Pakistan's virulent anti-Americanism. They also present a challenge to Washington's current efforts to build goodwill in Pakistan through flood relief efforts.
Observers attribute the omnipresence of conspiracy theories in Pakistan to a variety of factors, from the abysmal state of education to the realization that conspiratorial reportage sells. All of that is true enough, yet it is important to acknowledge that Washington is at fault as well.
First, consider that some of the conspiracy talk is based, however remotely, in fact. U.S. military forces do operate inside Pakistan -- mainly special forces that are training Pakistani security officers and helping implement development projects. Washington is expanding its embassy in Islamabad -- albeit to accommodate a surge of civilian aid workers, not soldiers. And Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, has had a presence in Pakistan. Until last year, for example, its employees loaded weapons onto unmanned drones at an outpost in Baluchistan province.
Second, Washington's diplomacy in Pakistan is highly opaque. Due to security concerns, diplomats conduct business behind the embassy's highly fortified walls. Visiting officials from Washington shuttle in and out, but are rarely seen. American officials do hold press conferences, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did during her last trip to Islamabad. Yet such events, along with the town hall meetings she conducted with Pakistani audiences, are tightly managed and heavily choreographed.
As a result, Pakistanis are left with fragmented images of Washington's relations with Islamabad: some photo ops here, an occasional sound bite there, and constant caravans of SUVs careening through the streets. In this information-poor environment, conspiracy talk breeds.
It is unrealistic to expect Washington to pull the plug on some of the policies that lend credence to Pakistani conspiracy theories. So long as the United States remains in Afghanistan, [color="#FF0000"]it will maintain a strong presence in Pakistan as well.[/color] Additionally, calls for U.S. diplomacy in Pakistan to become more transparent would surely be resisted by both Washington and Islamabad, given how delicate U.S.-Pakistan statecraft is for both nations.
This is not to say, however, that Washington cannot be more open about its activities and intentions in Pakistan. As a first step, American diplomats, from the ambassador down to the officer level, should do something they rarely do now : actively seek out the Pakistani media. They should do unscripted interviews and respond to questions from viewers in real time, as part of a broader effort to reduce the public's information shortage about U.S. actions in Pakistan.
Encouragingly, President Barack Obama did an interview with the English-language newspaper Dawn last year. While this marks a good start, it is critical that Americans also appear on Urdu-language (and other vernacular) television stations. Such outlets constitute most Pakistanis' chief news source, and they, and their viewers, are far more likely than their English-language print media counterparts to spin the conspiracy mill and believe what it churns out. In many cases, talking only to the English-language press amounts to little more than preaching to the choir.
If U.S. officials can appear on the Al Jazeera network, then there is no reason why they cannot appear on Pakistani television as well. The potential payoff is immense. By engaging openly and directly with the Pakistani press and its viewership, Washington enters the belly of the beast -- with a great opportunity to douse the conspiratorial fire that burns within it.
Additional steps that could help reduce the mistrust that enables anti-American conspiracy theories to flourish include strengthening U.S.-Pakistan cultural relations, from hosting more joint academic conferences to improving how U.S. border control authorities treat visiting Pakistanis.
Additionally, Washington must rethink the tone and substance of its official statements on Pakistan. Pakistanis resent how the U.S. repeatedly implores Islamabad to take more action against militancy. They find these demands bullying, insulting, and utterly ignorant of the many sacrifices Pakistanis have already made. Washington's public pronouncements should also be more emphatic about the U.S. commitment to carrying out aid initiatives on water and energy shortages announced over the last year. Resource shortages are a life-and-death matter for millions of Pakistanis, yet U.S. plans to help alleviate them are met with skepticism.
Indeed, flood relief is only the latest American aid effort to collide with Pakistani misapprehensions. Yet if the U.S. government takes the steps outlined above, demonstrating not just interest in engaging the Pakistani media, but also respect for the dignity of Pakistanis and empathy about their basic needs, then America's aid projects throughout Pakistan will start to be met with less acrimony and more appreciation.
Michael Kugelman is program associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at michael.kugelman AT wilsoncenter.org.
Cheers![[Image: beer.gif]](http://www.skyscrapercity.com/images/smilies/beer.gif)
[url="http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/6349/silencing-pakistans-conspiracy-mill"][center][size="6"][color="#006400"]Silencing Pakistan's Conspiracy Mill[/color][/size][/center][/url]
Earlier this summer, as U.S. Army helicopters began evacuating stranded people from Pakistan's flood-ravaged northwest, one Pakistani newspaper chose to focus on a more sinister dimension of American military activity in the country.
According to sources cited in an article in the Pakistani daily, the Nation, Washington is constructing a "huge base" in Islamabad to "control" South Asia. American soldiers and "personnel of Blackwater" will soon arrive, with a Guantanamo Bay-style detention camp to follow. The article noted that the base lies near Pakistani nuclear sites, offering "all kinds of opportunities" for Washington.
While many Pakistanis reject such talk, many others, particularly members of the country's free-wheeling media organizations, peddle it so frequently that it has inspired a joke: The only growth industry in Pakistan is the conspiracy theory.
The most troubling conspiracy theories are those that hold America -- and especially its security contractors, intelligence agents, and journalists -- directly responsible for Pakistan's violence and terrorism. Such accusations are deeply problematic for the United States, because they help drive Pakistan's virulent anti-Americanism. They also present a challenge to Washington's current efforts to build goodwill in Pakistan through flood relief efforts.
Observers attribute the omnipresence of conspiracy theories in Pakistan to a variety of factors, from the abysmal state of education to the realization that conspiratorial reportage sells. All of that is true enough, yet it is important to acknowledge that Washington is at fault as well.
First, consider that some of the conspiracy talk is based, however remotely, in fact. U.S. military forces do operate inside Pakistan -- mainly special forces that are training Pakistani security officers and helping implement development projects. Washington is expanding its embassy in Islamabad -- albeit to accommodate a surge of civilian aid workers, not soldiers. And Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, has had a presence in Pakistan. Until last year, for example, its employees loaded weapons onto unmanned drones at an outpost in Baluchistan province.
Second, Washington's diplomacy in Pakistan is highly opaque. Due to security concerns, diplomats conduct business behind the embassy's highly fortified walls. Visiting officials from Washington shuttle in and out, but are rarely seen. American officials do hold press conferences, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did during her last trip to Islamabad. Yet such events, along with the town hall meetings she conducted with Pakistani audiences, are tightly managed and heavily choreographed.
As a result, Pakistanis are left with fragmented images of Washington's relations with Islamabad: some photo ops here, an occasional sound bite there, and constant caravans of SUVs careening through the streets. In this information-poor environment, conspiracy talk breeds.
It is unrealistic to expect Washington to pull the plug on some of the policies that lend credence to Pakistani conspiracy theories. So long as the United States remains in Afghanistan, [color="#FF0000"]it will maintain a strong presence in Pakistan as well.[/color] Additionally, calls for U.S. diplomacy in Pakistan to become more transparent would surely be resisted by both Washington and Islamabad, given how delicate U.S.-Pakistan statecraft is for both nations.
This is not to say, however, that Washington cannot be more open about its activities and intentions in Pakistan. As a first step, American diplomats, from the ambassador down to the officer level, should do something they rarely do now : actively seek out the Pakistani media. They should do unscripted interviews and respond to questions from viewers in real time, as part of a broader effort to reduce the public's information shortage about U.S. actions in Pakistan.
Encouragingly, President Barack Obama did an interview with the English-language newspaper Dawn last year. While this marks a good start, it is critical that Americans also appear on Urdu-language (and other vernacular) television stations. Such outlets constitute most Pakistanis' chief news source, and they, and their viewers, are far more likely than their English-language print media counterparts to spin the conspiracy mill and believe what it churns out. In many cases, talking only to the English-language press amounts to little more than preaching to the choir.
If U.S. officials can appear on the Al Jazeera network, then there is no reason why they cannot appear on Pakistani television as well. The potential payoff is immense. By engaging openly and directly with the Pakistani press and its viewership, Washington enters the belly of the beast -- with a great opportunity to douse the conspiratorial fire that burns within it.
Additional steps that could help reduce the mistrust that enables anti-American conspiracy theories to flourish include strengthening U.S.-Pakistan cultural relations, from hosting more joint academic conferences to improving how U.S. border control authorities treat visiting Pakistanis.
Additionally, Washington must rethink the tone and substance of its official statements on Pakistan. Pakistanis resent how the U.S. repeatedly implores Islamabad to take more action against militancy. They find these demands bullying, insulting, and utterly ignorant of the many sacrifices Pakistanis have already made. Washington's public pronouncements should also be more emphatic about the U.S. commitment to carrying out aid initiatives on water and energy shortages announced over the last year. Resource shortages are a life-and-death matter for millions of Pakistanis, yet U.S. plans to help alleviate them are met with skepticism.
Indeed, flood relief is only the latest American aid effort to collide with Pakistani misapprehensions. Yet if the U.S. government takes the steps outlined above, demonstrating not just interest in engaging the Pakistani media, but also respect for the dignity of Pakistanis and empathy about their basic needs, then America's aid projects throughout Pakistan will start to be met with less acrimony and more appreciation.
Michael Kugelman is program associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at michael.kugelman AT wilsoncenter.org.
Cheers