Pakistan’s image problem

Day after day, we are hit by ever more somber news on Pakistan. If just a month ago it was a bunch of leaked documents on the Afghan war, which clearly demonstrated the role of Pakistan’s army and secret services in protecting and helping Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters, now it is a major natural disaster.

After the devastating floods that have already caused more than a thousand deaths and uncountable human suffering, now the UN is warning about a wave of epidemic diseases that could skyrocket the number of casualties, blaming the international community of being too slow and not committed enough to helping the devastated nation. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon just visited Pakistan, where local authorities claim 20 million have made been homeless by the floods, 6 million of them being at risk of starving or exposed to contaminated water. UN experts have also warned that 3,5 million children are among the affected. At the same time, the American press is warning that the floods can be an opportunity for the Taliban to solidify their grip on the region, thus hindering US efforts in Afghanistan and further destabilizing the troublesome AfPak conundrum.

While the claims made by the UN and are hard to rebate, we should stop for a minute to think why things are going this way. Of course, a key reason is the lack of total media spotlight that former humanitarian crises have enjoyed. Although information about floods and deaths in Pakistan has been constant –and the stakes are being raised right now, with the sickening numbers of affected people–, it has shared the spotlight with similar natural disasters in India and China (and even Central Europe), and also with the raging wildfires in Russia.  Moreover, international public opinion is only truly shaken when casualties are in the high thousands: floods or fires where “only” hundreds die are seen as second-rate tragedies, obviously not taking into account that the ensuing destruction is far worse than the most immediate and impactful effects.

However, there’s a second reason that explains the lack of international interest in helping out: the perceived futility of and distrust towards the Pakistani army and government. Indeed, Pakistan has a deep problem of bad reputation and a startling lack of true allies in the international theater, starting with its more immediate neighbors and top regional powers, India and China. While it is obvious that India won’t rush to help its archrival –specially since they are also facing serious floods in the disputed Kashmir area–, China is also uninterested in helping a country that it perceives as unreliable and unstable –something that really worries the Chinese, who crave stability and preservation of the status quo, both home and abroad–, one that poses a threat to the Chinese grand view of a pan-Asian sphere of prosperity under Beijing's tutelage. Enter China’s own floods, affecting the central provinces of Henan and Sichuan, and you get the full picture.

What about the US, the strongest ally of the Pakistani government, which offers aid to the tune of $1.5 billion a year –not including military cooperation– to the troubled nation? Here’s what: although the US’ has been the largest humanitarian response from any single country, it has only meant an extra $10 million and a bunch of rescue personnel and Chinook helicopters to boot. As a recent Examiner header said, what’s $10 million more between friends? Well, the answer is clear: maybe the US is not such a good friend of Pakistan, at least not for all that matters.

Once again, it is clear that the US is handing massive amounts of aid to the Pakistani authorities in order to ensure the nuclear-armed regime will not descend into chaos and will cooperate in the struggle against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Although progress in both respects can be labeled of moderate at best, the US has strong interests in preserving stability in Pakistan, although it sees the Pakistani ruling and military elite with suspicion and even despair. Of course, now the US is rushing to mollify its image: in a classic public diplomacy move, the US has pledged further aid in order to avoid fueling even further disapproval among Pakistanis. However, although the US image problem in Pakistan is deeply troubling, it looks like Pakistan’s own image problems might be far worse.

A further example is provided by the next in line of helping hands: the EU, a confederation of states whose statutes, the Lisbon Treaty, clearly specify that it will actively engage in humanitarian causes whenever needed. So where’s the European help? Nowhere to be seen. Too busy with internal economic problems, and too unwilling to get further muddled in the AfPak swamp, the EU has clearly ceded all initiative in the area to the regional powers and the US. In other words, don't count on Europe, either.

Finally, we can’t help but thinking about fellow Muslim states, which could be seen as natural allies for Pakistan. Unfortunately, they are not helping, either. The powerful and resource-rich Gulf States see Pakistan, a fellow Sunny country, as a threat to regional stability and a sponsor of radical, violent islamism, which they strongly condemn (of course, also to please its American and Chinese allies/customers). What about Iran, Egypt or Turkey? Same answer: these states, chiefly Iran and Turkey, sponsor themselves as leaders of the Muslim world, as trustful power poles that should pave the way towards greater regional development and cooperation. In this context, Pakistan is once again seen as a nuclear-armed focus of instability, a deeply unreliable regional power that sponsors disruptive forces in Afghanistan, preventing this greater pan-Muslim goal.

While there is no doubt that increased media focus and public diplomacy goals will translate into a higher level of international commitment to help Pakistan, the horrible image its government and military leaders enjoy throughout the world has turned against its own citizens, who have been literally and unfairly abandoned to their fate in the midst of a serious natural disaster. As the saying goes, humans are the only animals able to trip over the same stone twice: Pakistan's leaders should be more clever than that, learning from their public diplomacy mistakes in order to avoid this isolation to happen again.