ISLAMABAD- The September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States have brought more deaths, destruction and economic disaster for Pakistan than any other country in the world.

The attacks on the World Trade Center's twin towers in New York and the Pentagon, blamed on al-Qaeda, had claimed lives of 2,753 people. Pakistan officials confirm the country has lost nearly 50,000 lives since the country joined the so-called U.S.-led war on terror following the 9/11 attacks. Pakistan also suffered over 100 billion dollars of losses in the period, according to official figures.

As President George Bush wanted to punish the Afghan Taliban for “sheltering” Osama bin Laden, then Pakistan military President Pervez Musharraf had allowed the U.S. military to use the country's airbases as launching points for airstrikes against the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.

Days after the 9/11 attacks, Musharraf, in a televised address defended his policy to join the U.S war on the Taliban, and assured the Pakistan nation that his policy will bring ‘economic prosperity, secure the country’s nuclear program and will help in solution to the Kashmir dispute” with India. However; on the on the 13th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Pakistan is now passing through the most difficult time of its 67-year history. The U.S. promises with Musharraf have proved to be false if anyone looks at the present condition of Pakistan.

Musharraf, who now faces high treason case for abrogating the constitution, had once said Pakistan would have faced the combined military might of the US and India if it had not allied itself with the U.S. in its war against the Taliban.

In his book 'In the line of Fire' Musharraf had claimed that Washington had threatened to “bomb Pakistan into stone age” if it had refused to become its ally in the war against terrorists following the 9/11 attacks. Some of his top military commanders and the U.S. had later denied any such threats.

Majority in Pakistan believe the country still suffers because of its policy to join the U.S. war. The country is less safe than before the 9/11 attacks. Thousands of security forces are fighting the Pakistani Taliban and their foreign hosts in North Waziristan tribal region. The military operation launched in June uprooted around one million people from North Waziristan and a lot of resources have been shifted to feed and provide shelter.

Pakistan’s defense installations are not even safe and a group of miscreants attacked the highly guarded navy targets in the southern port city of Karachi at the weekend.  It was Taliban’s fourth attack on sensitive installations in recent weeks which highlight the danger Pakistan is currently facing.

Counterterrorism experts say Pakistan had never seen any suicide attack before the 9/11 attacks; however, suicide bombers have taken the lives of thousands of Pakistanis, including security personnel, since the country, as a close non-NATO ally of the United States, have carried out several military operations in the tribal regions.  The U.S. pressure tactics and its demand of Pakistan to “do more” were seen as one of the major factors of the instability in the country.

The Taliban revenge attacks to the military operations proved to be a destabilizing factor for Pakistan. Their violent extremism not only killed thousands of civilians and security personnel since the 9/11 attacks but also hampered economic activities.

The Taliban campaign have taken the lives of mostly civilians as the suicide attacks have not even spared public places, busy market areas, funerals, mosques and churches. The insecure environment has kept foreign investors away from Pakistan and even many own businessmen to shift business out of the country.

A substantial decrease has been witnesses in the bloody campaign since the military attacked the Taliban in their last biggest sanctuary of North Waziristan; however, the threat has not yet been over. Time is ripe for Pakistani leadership to think what the country has achieved and lost after the country has become part of the U.S.-led campaign.