From Russia with love

By Javid Husain

Pakistan’s relations with the Soviet Union

during the Cold War generally lacked substance and warmth barring a few short periods in which the two countries explored the possibilities of promoting mutual understanding and cooperation. This was not surprising considering the fact that the two countries were on the opposite sides of the Cold War divide, as Pakistan was squarely in the Western camp and a close ally of the United States.
In contrast, India took full advantage of its non-aligned status to develop in-depth cooperation with the Soviet Union in political, military and economic fields. India’s friendship with the Soviet Union enabled it to secure the Soviet support for its position at critical moments in the Pakistan-India relations. On the other hand, Pakistan’s general neglect of its relations with the Soviet Union not only narrowed the country’s diplomatic options, but also proved costly, particularly during the 1971 East Pakistan crisis. One can argue that by maintaining a more balanced approach in its relations with the two superpowers of that era instead of putting most of its eggs in the same basket (the only exception being Pakistan’s relations with China), Pakistan could have derived significant political, military and economic benefits that were otherwise denied to it.
The end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union have brought about a fundamental transformation of the global scenario. During the 1990’s, the US dominated the globe as the only superpower, while Russia as the successor State to the Soviet Union suffered from strategic dislocation in the form of internal weakness and indecisiveness in external affairs. China was growing rapidly in economic terms, but was still far from the position of posing any challenge to the US. The situation provided a golden opportunity to the US to provide leadership to the international community underpinned by diplomacy, multilateralism and morality, instead of reliance on unilateralism and military power. Unfortunately, Washington failed to come up to the mark, especially under President Bush Jr, as reflected by his administration’s adoption of the doctrine of unilateral preemptive military intervention.
The US attack on Iraq without any UN sanction was a practical demonstration of this doctrine, besides being a blatant violation of international law and the UN Charter. The earlier attack on Afghanistan, which was initially justified to punish Al-Qaeda for having organised the 9/11 attacks and the Taliban for having provided sanctuary to it, led to a brazen attempt by the US to impose a government of its choice on the Afghan people. Little wonder that the civil war in Afghanistan and the Afghan resistance against the foreign forces led by the US continue. In both these cases, the US exhibited a remarkable lack of restraint and sense of proportion in the exercise of power leading to disastrous consequences. Already, the US, according to one estimate, has spent more than $4 trillion on these wars, besides suffering an enormous loss of lives. While the US remains bogged down in these wars, China has made rapid strides economically emerging, as the second largest economy in the world with the prospect of surpassing the US some time in the 2020’s. Russia has gradually recovered from the strategic setback that it suffered during the Cold War and under Putin is determined to reassert its power, especially in its periphery. China and Russia have also joined hands in a strategic partnership to check the US unilateralism and expansionism. On the other hand, Washington is building up India, as a counterweight to China. While the US, despite its current economic difficulties, will remain the most powerful nation on the globe, economically and militarily, for quite some time to come, the American unipolar moment has already passed.

My visit to Moscow last month was partly meant to assess the emerging trends in the Russian foreign policy so as to identify the opportunities for Pakistan-Russia cooperation. My detailed meetings with the senior scholars of the famous Institute of Oriental Studies were particularly instructive in enlightening me on the current thinking in Russia on the Pakistan-Russia relations and the situation in Afghanistan. I was struck by the apparently sincere desire of the Russian academics for the strengthening of relations with Pakistan. They stressed that both Russia and Pakistan could learn from their past mistakes in the management of their relationship in the future.