By Majed Iqbal- After a lengthy journey that started for Obama over 21 months ago and a record-breaking $700 million inputted to his campaign account, Barack Obama was elected as President of America. The showdown in the US was watched closely by Prime Ministers, Presidents, kings, Politicians and observers from all over the world as the implications of the results from the elections would have some and in other cases, serious implications for them and their countries.
The population of Pakistan, the Government and the parties operating in the country looked on speculatively and looked gloomy on hearing that Barack Obama had secured the Presidency. Obama's campaign had been rife with references to Pakistan when discussing America's future in tackling the so called war on terror.
In light of the new Political developments in the Middle East where America has categorically failed to bring about its version of peace and democracy to the region, an exit strategy is something that has been alluded to by many, from both the Democrats and Republicans.
No doubt, Obama and his team had already tuned into this strategy and insinuations were already being made in speeches referring to ‘Change' and ‘New America'. This is where Pakistan began to be refereed to much more alongside Afghanistan in what was being dubbed as America shift in region for their Foreign Policy.
Susan Rice, a top Obama foreign policy adviser who was an assistant secretary of state in the Clinton administration, in an interview with Politico stated "Those who made the judgment that we ought to divert our attention from Afghanistan to invade Iraq and allow Al Qaeda to reconstitute and strengthen are now having to assess the wisdom of that judgment as we may be seeing yet another manifestation of Al Qaeda's potency"
Obama confirmed this position when in August 2007 at the Woodrow Wilson Centre he said: "There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again . . . If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."
The remarks were met with anger from Islamabad, who have supported, endorsed, carried out and co-operated with all their energy to facilitate Americas War on Terror. Despite such exhaustive efforts, remarks like these were being met with frustration and anti-American sentiment on the street.
Dr. Raza Bokhari who serves on the Board of Directors of Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC), met with Obama earlier in March this year and presented a self-authored white paper containing suggestions on ways to reduce anti-American sentiments in Pakistan
According to Bokhari, the majority of Pakistanis, including the moderates, do not recognize that the war against terrorism is a global problem and instead consider it to be an American war in which they are unnecessarily involved and have become an unintended victim.
These feelings were referenced to by a Sky news journalist reporting live from Islamabad on the morning of the election victory announcement. She said "Many people in Pakistan believe that Obama will be more tougher on Pakistan than Bush was......that Anti-Americanism is running through the middle-class, elite and many politicians who are weary of Obama's comments made about Pakistan"
Dr Mubashar Hasan, Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB) Punjab president, who returned from US recently went as far as warning the government and the people against US designs, and said that the US is preparing for a possible Iraq-like invasion of Pakistan.
The former minister said that the situation in Pakistan was a front-page story on every US national newspaper every day depicting an alarming picture of possible "collapse" of the country. Dr Hasan said that a prestigious think tank worked out that one million American troops would be required to invade Pakistan to "save" it from a "collapse".
Understandably, Pakistanis have been concerned about the outcome elections results from the US as their country is evidently the next US target in America's war on Terror. One thing is for sure- All Pakistanis can see that the leopard doesn't change its spots no matter who you bring onto the international stage after elections in US.
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