Essay Contest

Impact of the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election on Pakistan

By: Sofia Naz

The upcoming elections of the US government greatly affect my home country Pakistan more then most of the other countries of the world. We can say that peace in Pakistan depends upon it; because Pakistan is a close partner of the US in its "War on Terror". This War on Terror has created more problems for the poor people then it has solved. Our people are dying in the streets because of the growing influence of the "Taliban movement". The US and Pakistani government both have failed to combat terrorism. We are all well aware of the bomb blasts in Pakistan. In these bomb blasts, many of our great leaders and poor citizens are dying and this is the main point which describes the failure of both the US and Pakistani governments. The reason behind their failure is the lack of cooperation and trust amongst them.

Now we are hearing that US force helicopters entered Pakistani territory with out permission, and Pakistani forces shot at them. Now they are doing a very wrong thing, they are fighting against each other instead of trying to cease the growing power of the Taliban movement. The current situation in Pakistan has a lot to do with the growing influence of Taliban on the other side of the border in Afghanistan. The US policy in Afghanistan is failing. This war seems as if it is never ending, and the conditions are getting worst day by day instead of getting better. More and more forces and civilians are dying in Afghanistan. All this has a lot to do with the current US policy under the Bush Administration.

The Majority of Pakistanis would assume that change in the US regime would bring a change in the situation. It is hoped that he new regime will learn lessons from the past failed practices. Additionally, we hope the changes will bring sense and sensibility across the new administration, and the people in the new administration would prefer to seek a solution through dialogue, rather then through the barrel of a gun. When we look on the political parties; we have two main parties in the US, Republicans and Democrats. According to my knowledge, Republicans would like to continue the war, and they want to send more forces to Afghanistan. I think is not good, they used this policy before but it has not shown any good result. They would like to enter Pakistani territory for operations against the Taliban, but the new Pakistani government does not like this, and the relationship between Pakistan and US will not remain strong. The US and Pakistan needs to make their relationship strong for fighting against terrorism. I think it will be better for the US and Pakistan relationship, when the new administration of US, finish the war with good results, which is better for both the US and Pakistan.