EIGHT years on from 9/11, the world is a much more dangerous place with Al Qaeda having extended its reach from across Asia into Europe. The US "war on terror" has not only failed to deny space to the terrorists, it has created more space for them. Early on, the US dissipated the global fight against terrorism by invading Iraq. From then on questions continue to haunt US policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, not the least of which relate to US strategic intentions beyond the anti-terror rhetoric. Meanwhile, the invasion of Iraq has left that country devastated and fissured. In Afghanistan the US-NATO policies continue to show no signs of success and the general consensus is that unless there is a major shift in approach, the US will see failure writ large in Afghanistan. To detract from this failure the US has successfully shifted the centre of gravity of the war in Afghanistan into Pakistan's FATA region. In fact, Pakistan has been a direct victim of the failure of US anti-terror policies post-9/11. Instead of understanding Pakistan's vulnerabilities and problems, the US approach has been dominated by the "do more" mantra. Never has the Pakistani polity experienced the kind of terrorism and divisiveness that prevails today - a direct fallout of the Pakistani rulers' (past and present) unthinking cooperation with the US. As successive concessions on Pakistan's sovereignty have been made to the US, Pakistan has had to face the national humiliation of being lumped in the demeaning AfPak label. There is Afghanistan, effectively an occupied country with all that that signifies; and here is Pakistan, a sovereign nuclear state with a strong military and a democratic dispensation; yet the two states are being seen as being at par with one another. This is where Pakistan's cooperation with the US has landed it eight years later. It has taken President Zardari some time to understand the ramifications of the "AfPak" coinage; but his rejection of the same is a welcome development. Now there is also a need to reassess the military hardware the US is actually transferring to Pakistan to help the country in its fight against terrorism - although this fight itself needs to go beyond the purely military. While sophisticated weapon systems, including missile defence components and nuclear technology are being sent India's way from Washington, Pakistan has been given a few night vision goggles, even fewer helicopters and little else. Even for these the military has to undergo humiliating audits on a regular basis at the hands of US inspectors. Meanwhile, the Pakistan military's demand for drones and their technology has fallen on deaf US ears, as have requests for more hi tech military hardware. To further insult Pakistan, the Pentagon has now suggested that old equipment no longer needed in Iraq should be transferred to Pakistan. As if that was not bad enough, the US Congress has displayed a cool reception to even this idea. When will the Pakistani state stop taking this continuous abuse from Washington? If it is "our war" then let us fight it with our weapons - and we have not had to depend on US weapon systems for decades now - and our indigenous strategies taking into account our ground realities. Let us rid ourselves of any further burden put on us by our American "allies". Unfortunately, the US has failed to draw the right lessons from the tragedy of 9/11. Let us not make the same mistakes and instead learn the correct lessons from our experience over the eight years since 9/11.