“I would like to see bin Laden strung up from the tallest pole. He is no friend of Pakistan.”
–Ambassador to US Mahmud Durrani, Washington DC, 2004.
These words were said in an interview to the CNN. The ambassador added that he believes bin Laden is “somewhere in Afghanistan.” Our military and state apparatus has to question itself over how far it has come from twelve years ago. Bin Laden ended up being found on Pakistan territory, a huge embarrassment for Pakistan. While we protested blue in the face against drone strikes, the most wanted man in the world was living here with his family. The US was bound to be suspicious and treat us like a problem, rather than the solution to the problem. That is what we are today. We are not a friendly state to the US, but a strategic partner and we will be abandoned (or worse) if terrorism is not uprooted. We may not have started the war, but we will have to clean up the mess if we are to survive.