‘On our dime, they armed jihadis’: Top US scholar exposes Pakistan’s India obsession and US complicity

Renowned American scholar Dr. Christine Fair has delivered a scathing rebuke of U.S. foreign policy towards Pakistan, accusing Washington of enabling Islamabad’s military expansion and terror infrastructure through billions in aid—money that she says has ultimately undermined American interests.

“I mean, one of the things that I find as an American to be most frustrating—and also as a sister of two men in uniform—is that on our dime, Pakistan has actually expanded its assets that undermine our interest considerably,” Fair said at a recent event in California. “And what do I mean by that? What Pakistan does for the most part in that region cues off of its obsession with India.”

Fair pointed to Pakistan’s persistent efforts to challenge the territorial status quo in Kashmir. “Now it says that it focuses upon trying to change the territorial status quo with respect to Kashmir. Virtually every Pakistani civilian or military leader will, in fact, go on and on and on about Kashmir,” she said. “In its quest to reverse the status quo with respect to Kashmir, Pakistan also has larger interests vis-à-vis India that are not Kashmir-specific.”

Despite its repeated military failures, including the 1971 war in which it lost half its territory, Fair said Pakistan remains intent on countering India’s rise. “Pakistan still sees itself as the only challenger to India's rise. So not only is Pakistan revisionist vis-à-vis the territorial disposition of Kashmir, it also is revisionist in the sense that it wants to turn back India’s ascendance in the region and beyond.”

She warned that Pakistan has developed “jihadis under the expanding nuclear umbrella” as its primary tool to achieve this goal.

Fair said what troubles her most is that “in the last 13 years, when Pakistan's been the recipient of some $30 billion—and that, by the way, is overt money—we have no idea what monies they've received covertly for, you know, capturing various numbers of al-Qaeda in various Pakistani cities.”

She added, “On our dime, they've been able to expand their nuclear program… and at the same time, they've continued their commitment to a whole fleet of terrorist organizations and insurgent organizations that very much threaten not only our national interest, but also the interests of our partners.”

Putting a fine point on it, she said: “In exchange for that $30 billion that we collectively have given the Pakistanis, they have taken that money with one hand and they filtered it through a variety of mechanisms with the other hand to the Afghan Taliban who are killing our troops.”

Fair concluded with a blunt critique of U.S. policy: “I’ve become very much an outspoken critic of not only Pakistan but quite frankly the Americans. I mean, one has to ask: Why is it that we continue to pursue this suite of policies that I think critically undermine our interests and in fact make Pakistan more dangerous than it was in 2001.”