Why Matt Waldman must be sued

The News

Why Matt Waldman must be sued

By Mosharraf Zaidi ⋅ June 15, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Text Size

http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=245013

Why Waldman must be sued

Tuesday, June 15, 2010
by Mosharraf Zaidi

The buzz being generated by an LSE discussion paper is truly electric. The paper itself is rather unremarkable, alleging long-alleged, long-acknowledged, and long-standing links between Pakistani intelligence and the Kandahari Taliban (those Taliban associated with Mullah Omar and the original extremist political movement that rose in the Afghanistan of the 1990s). What is remarkable however is the vigor and confidence with which the author uses already established theories and facts to libel the president of Pakistan.

Matt Waldman, the Carr Center fellow who wrote the report claims to have interviewed 54 different people, out of which at least nine are Taliban field commanders in Afghanistan, ten are former Taliban government officials, twenty-two are Afghan “elders”, and thirteen are foreign diplomats, analysts and experts. In a report that is essentially about Pakistan, Waldman must be the world’s unluckiest researcher, having been unable to interview a single one of Pakistan’s more than 180 million people. Waldman is at least honest about this, claiming no conversations with Pakistani officials, military officers, or indeed, any ISI agents. Not having spoken to an ISI agent is an aspect of the report that stands out. Because, if there is one thing Waldman’s research really tries to prove, it is that the easiest thing to find in Afghanistan, other than finely-cut heroin, are ISI agents.

Remarkably, not a single one of the 54 honest and endearing protagonists in Matt Waldman’s story wanted to be cited by name, or go on the record. In the footnote detailing who the nine Taliban field commanders are, he offers no details, stating that “Due to safety concerns each commander insisted on anonymity”. This is terribly confusing. Waldman’s Taliban commanders don’t seem to have any particular safety concerns when blowing up and killing Gen Stanley McChrystal’s JSOC boys while they are on patrol in Helmand. But an LSE report with their names in it scares the jihad right out of them?

Of course, Waldman is not the first to ravage Pakistan’s policy of supporting religiously-motivated armed groups that support Pakistan’s foreign policy objectives through terrorism. Pakistanis and foreigners have both advocated for years about the inherent risks of a strategy that creates monsters than have no pause, or stand-by button. Most of us have based our critique of this approach of using proxy warriors, whether Kashmiri, or Afghan, or Pakistani, on the very real damage they do to Pakistan itself, to the moral case they claim to espouse, to the establishment of a fledgling democracy, and to the prospects for prosperity and peace across the entire region. Matt Waldman tries with his paper to join a long and distinguished list of critics of Pakistani proxy warfare, not with substantial critique, but with rehashed polemics about the inherent evil of Pakistan’s flawed national security paradigm.

Waldman is also not the first to draw conclusions from circumstantial facts. Since at least late 2007, Pakistani hypernationalists have been propagating the ideas that the TTP is an externally-funded terrorist coalition. Where else could the TTP possibly get its money, these war-loving, hypernationalists often ask? Waldman does one better. He collates press reports and analysis about the different sources of the Afghan Taliban’s income (none of which mention Pakistan, or the ISI) and then asks the same question that Pakistani hypernationalists ask. “How could all this happen without ‘external’ support?” Of course it can’t, according to Waldman’s Zaid Hamid-esque logic. Waldman’s answer to everything is the ISI.

This too, of course, is hardly novel. Until 2007, even President Karzai spared no occasion to depict Afghanistan as a victim of the ISI. Who can forget Karzai’s dramatic performance from December 2006, when Karzai made a famous tearful appeal for an end to Pakistan’s “murder of Afghan children”? Though Karzai seems to have found something agreeable about President Zardari and the post-2008 election Pakistan, other frontline Northern Alliance bosses continue to blame Pakistan for everything. Corruption, the drug-trade, Al Qaeda and the Taliban. All come from Pakistan. And everything from Pakistan, of course, is produced in a laboratory by the ISI.

Essentially, Waldman’s report restates old allegations and sexes them up. It is really old wine, in a shiny new bottle. There is however one quite spectacularly novel thing about this report. It is a libelous and malicious attack on Pakistani democracy, beginning right at the top, with the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari.

Waldman doesn’t libel President Zardari accidentally. By including his wild allegation of Zardari’s meetings with Taliban jailbirds in his abstract, he loudly proclaims that slurring Zardari, and by extension the Pakistani people, is part of the objective of the report. He states that, “President Zardari and a senior ISI official visited some 50 high-ranking Talibs who were held in a prison in a secret location in Pakistan”. He then describes how Zardari assured the arrested Taliban of his support, and their subsequent release in keeping with those assurances. The report’s allegations about President Zardari’s meetings with the Taliban leaders are derived from a single, unnamed, low- to mid-level Taliban field commander operating in Afghanistan. Any person with a pulse will be able to discern how ridiculous and malicious this allegation is. Yet by the time folks have a chance to consider its qualifications the damage will have been done.

What makes Waldman’s attack on Zardari particularly toxic is that it serves no purpose other than to paint the last decent thing about Pakistan in Westerners’ eyes–Pakistani democracy–with the same colour as everything else here has been painted. That is immeasurably lethal, and its collateral damage is not just political, but economic too. Denials of the report’s claims from Farahnaz Ispahani, Farhatullah Babar and Gen Athar Abbas don’t go nearly far enough in countering Waldman’s defamatory work.

Pakistan’s national security paradigm deserves to be discussed, dissected, and deconstructed by Pakistanis and friends of Pakistan that wish this country a more secure future. This country has been an insecure, fidgety, spasmodic, neurotic, and obsessive-compulsive neighbour. Pakistan’s military needs to be held to account for the money it spends, and the decisions it takes, by Pakistan’s elected representatives. Pakistan’s intelligence agencies have spent far too much blood and treasure trying to manipulate the hearts and minds of people, in Pakistan, and abroad into wars that are unwinnable, unloseable, and unendable. They should be reigned in and become more focused on protecting the life and property of Pakistanis.

When informed commentators, whether they are Pakistani, or not, write about Pakistan’s problems, good sense must prevail. Freedom of speech does not only apply to journalism, but to academic discourse too. Pakistanis should embrace the critical lens that is being placed on their country. Clearly, we have failed ourselves. It cannot hurt to have some help in understanding the mess we’ve created. Honest critical analysis of Pakistan should be welcomed.

The difference between critical analysis and malicious slander however is quite stark. By deliberately targeting President Asif Ali Zardari, Matt Waldman has not simply bad-mouthed Mr Zardari. (God know, the President knows how to handle being bad-mouthed). This is not a garden variety accusation of corruption–something not new for Zardari, and not unique to him.

What Waldman has done is much worse. He has slandered the symbol of the Pakistani federation. One can’t be anything but certain that President Zardari has never visited Taliban leaders in jail. If that is a certainty, then so must be a lawsuit. Accusing the Pakistani president of meeting with international outlaws, to offer them his support is outrageous, and is designed to injure Pakistan. It must be resisted with the full power of Pakistan’s substantial legal human resources in courts of law in the United Kingdom. There is a big difference between accusing clandestine services of behaving badly and accusing the president of a country of aiding and abetting international outlaws. Without legal liability to deter it, this blurring of lines will become epidemic. Matt Waldman needs to be sued for libeling the President of Pakistan.

p.s. You can read Matt Waldman’s LSE discussion paper, here: http://www.mosharrafzaidi.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/20106138531279734lse-isi-taliban.pdf

Discussion

16 Responses to “Why Matt Waldman must be sued”

I hope our govt. is brave enough to take this step.

Best

Posted by Balal Naeem | 15. Jun, 2010, 10:56 am
I think his repost is interesting to read. There is some relation that we must observe. The point right now is not to pin point but study what he has to give us. We must eradicate terrorism from our country with the price we are paying with citizen lives.

Posted by Hira Mir | 15. Jun, 2010, 11:19 am
Dear Zaidi,

I used to think you are somehow a logical and maybe at least understandable person, but this post makes me doubtful of both assertions. I also understand the blind nationalism which ofcourse runs through my pashton blood as well, but I dont think anyone who knows a bet about history of this two countries, to deny that ISI didnt create the taliban- and I am talking about CREATION, not even back up. I am sure I dont need to tell you how B Bhutto/Nawaz Sharif supported the same Kandahari taliban to kill Dr Najibullah and destroy whatever was left after the predatory civil war of the same warlords that again General Zia had created for us-

for many of us Afghans, we dont even give an importance to a study to prove this, we have seen the situation by ourselves- when B Bhutto came to Kandahar to meet up with their proxies- when men were trained by retired ISI generals and sent to our ways for Jihad- when we see our kids being poisoned by the same and come and explode themselves in Kabul and other places. We have a very “unafghan” governmnet in Kabul, if there was any sort of sense of national security in them, they wouldnt have been this indifferent to the miseries that ISI created for Afghanistan- and as my 90 yr old grand father says ( whose even older than Pakistan) that the MISTAKE was of Daud Khan who publicly resented Pakistan’s creation and since then an Anti Afghan sentiment was injected in the state- not in the people. We all lived in Pakistan and grew up there, and got along with the people and are thankful to them as well.

But What is needed is to remove this blind nationalism which is very ugly and destructive and accept the reality as reality and work to change it. Otherwise, you never know as we have in farsi that whoever digs the will ends up there himself too. Anyone who digs graves for others, would also have to dig one for himself.

Posted by Afghan | 15. Jun, 2010, 12:36 pm
@Afghan:

You’ve not read the article. You should read the article and please share with me and other readers where exactly I am giving in to blind nationalism.

What’s funny is you don’t even need to read the whole thing. Just up to the second sentence…

The paper itself is rather unremarkable, alleging long-alleged, long-acknowledged, and long-standing links between Pakistani intelligence and the Kandahari Taliban

Posted by Mosharraf Zaidi | 15. Jun, 2010, 12:55 pm
Let us forget the LSE report..assuming its not there. But still Zaidi-do you recall Pakistan until not long ago was denying its support to Taliban,Kashmiri militants-which now it is accepting and saying we want to destroy terrorism in all forms. SO isn’t it likely that Pakistan(I mean Govt) may be supporting Shura clandestinely and then later they accept it..somewhere your establishment has to find reason to live in this beautiful world without harming others. The first step is Honesty with yourself.

Posted by Abhay | 15. Jun, 2010, 2:37 pm
Such efforts have an agenda behind them and honestly, they are not doing any good to the main cause which is eliminating the threat of terrorism from this globe. Such reports will only creates doubts and feed some media people.

Posted by Yasir Qadeer | 15. Jun, 2010, 3:15 pm
Mr. Zaidi-

This article clearly exposes the utter gall and stupidity of one Mr. Matt Waldman- whoever the hell he is. Who knows if they are true or not? Anyone can go around saying “I talked to ten taliban commanders who happened to be in my backyard- but I can’t give away their names.” Because they have no names.

The one thing I have a very hard time believing is his accusation about President Zardari. There is zero substantive proof that Zardari met with the Taliban.

My friend Gordon Duff is a consultant for the Pakistan government and knows men like Hamid Gul pretty well. He wrote an article today that also poked holes in Waldman’s absurd report – the link is here (ignore the Israel bashing he does, he does that in every report- but he makes a few good points too).
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/06/13/gordon-duff-israel-leaves-trail-of-lies-in-afghanistan/

Two of Duff’s points I would love to get your feedback on:

(1)”Accusations that Pakistan is running the Taliban through the current ISI is even worse. In fact, Pakistan has captured more Taliban leaders than either Afghanistan or the US. They have also lost more casualties. The ISI is targeted directly by the Taliban and ISI facilities have been attacked inside Pakistan on more than one occasion with significant loss of life.”

(2)”The article further claims that Pakistan’s ISI, their version of the CIA, is working with President Zardari to organize the Taliban. A minor problem with this, of course is that the ISI was placed under the General Kiani, Chief of Staff of the Army, over the extremely strong objections of President Zardari. Benazir Bhutto, the slain former president and wife of current President Zardari, had, during the early 1990s, sought ties with the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. This was, however, before the rumors of Al Qaeda operations in Afghanistan began. The assumptions made by the article exhibit a total lack of historical perspective and the realities of Pakistan’s internal politics.”

I’ve been covering Afghanistan and Pakistan closely for over 2 years for The Huffington Post and Examiner.com. I just did an article and was able to talk to Admiral Sirohey about potential solutions. Pakistan wants stability – both in Afghanistan and at home. The connections I’ve talked to so far – like Admiral Sirohey – have indicated that the military, civilian govt and the intel agencies do not want to see things get any worse. I wrote about a potential peace plan in Afghanistan that Sirohey said Pakistan would bless in the HuffPost today: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-hughes/afghanistan-needs-a-hero_b_610622.html

I too have condemned Pakistan for being an incubator of terrorism. Yet, I realize this didn’t just happen overnight – there is a history and complexity to the situation that most people do not get. Now, how do we forget the past and work on the problem. The military it seemed had a cavalier attitude about the extremists, I sense things are changing – I am not sure what your thought are on that.

This was a great article. I am sending this article to my associates and connections. I’ll be following your articles more closely. Good work.

Michael Hughes

Posted by Michael Hughes | 15. Jun, 2010, 3:16 pm
The LSE report is nothing but fabricated, Mosharraf this is your best ever article! All the sources are unnamed and the in particular the allegation regarding the president meeting Taliban leaders in highly absurd. If such a meeting had taken place given the media vigillenance it was bound to be reported. I am not saying that at some level an agency is cooperating with the Taliban it is very much plausible. However this cooperation does not exist at the strategic level for if it did then we would not have lost over 25,000 civilians in this war.

Posted by Ammar Zafarullah | 15. Jun, 2010, 3:32 pm
I am not too sure whether it is a slander because there were reports in France about Zardari executing terror attack on French naval engineers after non-delivery of bribes. However, I strongly believe, the Waldeman report is a deception story planted by Pakistani Army to slander Pakistani civilian leadership. ISI is part of Pakistan Army and it obeys Pakistan Army. So, no one would believe this clever deception story originated from Pakistan Army, if ISI is also shown in poor light. We will know whether I am right when Pakistani Army rides in like a knight in shining armour to rescue Pakistan from terrorism and save the West.

The conclusion of the Waldeman report says India must negotiate with Pakistan over Kashmir, or else, Pakistan, the powder keg, will explode. Initially, I suspected western intelligence agencies as the hand behind the report. But, there is no real motive to malign the Pakistani civilian leadership. Only, the Pakistan Army has that motive. The Kashmir negotiation plea is the second motive for Pakistan Army to plant this deception story.

The report however truthfully shows that Pakistan Army is behind the terrorism in Kashmir, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai was executed by Pakistan Army. India must not under any circumstances reward Pakistan Army for its terrorism policies and should ignore the conclusion of the report.

Posted by Hyder Ali | 15. Jun, 2010, 5:03 pm
First of all, Mr Zaidi must be appreciated for not denying the ISI/Taliban links. Course correction must always start with realization/admission, and its never too late for that!

Me Zaidi also goes on to lament the mess Pakistan has created for herself, and rightly enumerates some of the corrective steps that need to be taken.

However, some of the criticisms of the LSE report are taken with a pinch of salt.

Criticism 1: Report is unremarkable as allegations are long-alleged, long-acknowledged…

Response : Please refer to the Pakistani response to the LSE report ( http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Pak-rubbishes-LSE-reports-on-ISI-training-Taliban/634006 ). Has the link between ISI and Taliban been officially acknowledged? NO! Don’t you think, Mr Zaidi, that the authentic efforts like the LSE report are needed to remove the ambiguity arising in the mind of many well meaning people, including the peace loving ones in Pakistan?

Criticism 2 : Researcher didn’t interview any Pakistani (ISI agents (!!) and military officers)

Response : Remember Daniel Pearl and the probable ISI link to his death ( http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,490640,00.html )? The answer is obvious!

Overall, one must commend Mr Zaidi for
a.being brave enough not to deny the links outright
b.accepting that using terror as an instrument of state policy by Pakistan is a flawed approach
c.realizing that there is dire need of course correction by Pakistan
d.Suggesting ways of making the correction

Just wish Mr Zaidi finds his echo among the people of Pakistan. That’s when true course correction will start!

Twitter id : @amancool5

Posted by Aman Sharma | 15. Jun, 2010, 7:58 pm
The accusations directed at Zardari do seem very odd and incongruous; even Ahmed Rashid, who has no compunction about implicating senior civilian figures in terrorist or militant activity, has said so.

But is suing a reporter for channeling a presumably legitimate source really appropriate? Moreover, the point that this slanders Pakistani democracy is a bit off; we know Bhutto’s own role in fostering the Taliban, from respected and well-sourced reporters like Rashid and others; was that also to be considered an unacceptable pot shot at Pakistani democracy?

The better response is to spell out the reasons why a Zardari meeting would be highly anomalous, and make these clearer; when done in conjunction with the admirable acknowledgements of Pakistani culpability you touch on above, this will supply an accurate picture to those not as well acquainted with the region and its dynamics.

Posted by SJK | 15. Jun, 2010, 8:56 pm
I was stunned to read about this report by this so called 3rd degree researcher from Britain, Mr. Waldeman where in he has basically put all responsibilty on pakistanis for the destruction of Afghanistan.I grew up in peshawar and among the afghans. I saw how this whole game of destruction started in afghanistan in 1979. One super power,Soviet Union, to expand his influence in the region and get to the hot waters of arabian sea, invaded afghanistan without any regard for the citizens of the country.The other power, The western block, saw a chance to get the invading power there and dis-essemble it there with the help of pakistan.So this western block/power brought the money, the equipments and the training to pakistan for the mujahideen of afghanistan to destroy the soviet forces there as well as to destroy the forces of the afghan communists there.This was the phase-1 destruction of afghanistan. The western block even encouraged muslims in their countries for the so called Jihad/destruction of Afghanistan by promissing them and their families the green cards and legal residencies with possible welfare asistance that is monthly cash payments, food stamps to buy food with and free medical facilities.So the game of destruction of afghanistan was internationalized to make it a success at all cost and weaken the soviet power.Pakistan for its own safety had to jump in this game of destruction not by choice as what was the other option for pakistan anyway? India sided with the soviet side of destruction of afghanistan. And after 10 years of destruction of afghanistan, Soviet union was dis-assembled into tiny tiny pieces remaning no longer a threat to the western block.Thus the western block slapped pakistan with all kinds of sanctions for pursuing nuclear technology right after phase-1 destruction of afghansiatan.They left Afghansitan with phase-2 destruction also by abandoning the so called jihad there after accompishing their goal with the blood of afghans and other muslims.Civil war started among the different factions of afghanistan for the hunger of power.the phase-2 destruction continued for another 10-12 years. India, Pakistan and Iran and Russia were the great players of this phase-2 destructive game.Russia,India and Iran were supporting the northern alliance while pakistan opted for the other side.Then the tragedy of 911 happend in the US in 2001.since then the phase-3 destruction of afghanistan is in progress and who knows for how many more years and how many phases to come.The most powerfuls of the world are present in afghanistan for so many years taking part in this destruction. But it is amazing that the like of Mr. Waldeman is so ignorant not to see to that and very easily has tried to put all the dirt of this destructive game on pakistan with no strong reasons.And for those who think that Mr. Zaidi’s thoughts are somewhat the results of his untra nationalistic approach to the problem of afghanistan, should read the whole story and some genuine history of this destructive game in afghanistan. I am also pakhtun and understand the tragedy of afghansistan very well.I thanks Mr. Zaidi for responding to Mr. Waldeman wild accusations.

Posted by Faiz Khalil | 16. Jun, 2010, 4:20 am
You are absolutely write about this report. It is a sheer propaganda. But on the other hand, what our beloved oliticians are doing in Punjab is equally condemnable. They have given dollars to banned outfits for their services and all that. We have to shape ourselves as moderates, then will the world prefer our opinion on anything controversial. Right now, few listen to us.

Posted by Khalid FAROOQ | 16. Jun, 2010, 2:14 pm
Rupert Murdoch of News Corporation owns the times UK. Why would he publish such a alleged libelious news which can cost him millions of dollars if he did not have sources?

Excerpt:

“According to a Taliban leader in the jail at the time of the Pakistan president’s alleged visit, five days before the meeting prison officials were told to prepare for the impending presidential call.”

Posted by abcxyz | 16. Jun, 2010, 9:10 pm
Pakistan adminstration is prone to lying a la Kasab (He is not Pakistani) and Kargil( they are mujhdeens and not regular Pakistani soldiers)………

Posted by abcxyz | 17. Jun, 2010, 4:53 am