us Foreign Policy to Pakistan, 1947-1960

413 Pages·2014·11.98 MB·English

u s Foreign Policy to Pakistan, 1947-1960:
Re-Constructing Strategy
by
Saqib Qureshi
Department of International Relations
The London School of Economics and Political Science
Theses submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of degree of
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
University of London
September 2001
UMl Number: U616010
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ABSTRACT
The thesis analyses US policy to Pakistan between 1947 and 1960 by using a
theoretical framework beyond the positivist-empiricist nexus that dominates much of
International Relations and especially its dominant school, Realism. This nexus
considers the world to be self-evident, which requires independent observers to
passively pick up. The thesis rejects this epistemological position by demonstrating
that reality is interdependent between subject and object, that knowing reality depends
on the subject that is analysing as much as the object that is being analysed. The first
part of this thesis thus develops a framework to accommodate this interdependence,
one based on identity narratives. Identity narratives are accounts of how the self came
to be, where it came from, what it is and where it is going. These stories explain how
political subjects categorise, attach meaning and ultimately engage reality. Thus, four
American identities, with corresponding narratives, are selected: exceptionalism,
capitalism, Anglo-Saxon and missionary. Further, a meta-identity in anti-communism
is also used.
This framework is applied on archival and other material relating to US policy to
Pakistan between 1947 and 1960. The thesis demonstrates Washington’s exclusive
deployment of its anti-communist narrative to understand Pakistan since America
could only categorise and attach meaning to Pakistan in the context of communist
issues and could not fit into any other American identity narrative. Initially in 1947,
American failed to make sense of Pakistan given the speed of Pakistan’s creation,
American distraction elsewhere and its inability to place Karachi into any of its
identity narratives. However, as the anti-communist identity intensified, as it did
during 1950-1954, Pakistan was attached meaning as a supporter of America’s anti­
communist narrative and therefore was engaged as an ally, located in the communist-
vulnerable Middle East. When American anti-communism eased and Pakistan overtly
abandoned its anti-communist guise, both of which occurred during 1957-1960,
Pakistan lost meaning to America, which led to American attempts to disengage
Pakistan. Interestingly, neither of America’s two policies, being the engagement and
disengagement of Pakistan, was especially dependent on calculations of Pakistan’s
military or economic contribution to the Cold War. In contrast, policy to India
reflected the dialectic deployment of anti-communist and missionary narratives for
Washington re-located the continuation of its missionary identity narrative through
India after China’s sudden rejection of its aged role within that narrative.
PREFACE
One underlying personal trait that has perhaps been reflected in this thesis is that there
is probably no human consensus that has universally and historically stood its ground
without fundamental change or rejection. This belief has manifested itself in two
strands during the subsequent analysis of US foreign policy to Pakistan prior to the
Kennedy administration. First, there is the rejection of the dominant Realist approach
to International Relations and Foreign Policy Analysis - a rejection incidentally
which dates back to the 1980s at least. That the methodological, epistemological and
ontological assumptions of the power politics framework oft associated with Hobbes,
Machiavelli and in modem times, Morgenthau, were dismembered several years
before I started my thesis means that I therefore add little value to this debate.
The second manifestation of my anti-consensus bias forms the crux of this thesis,
being the constmction of a way, alternative to Realism, of analysing American policy
to Pakistan. Few ‘facts’ of political life are as embedded in the fabric of Muslim
reality as is the notion of a Western conspiracy premised on hard Realist assumptions
either against Islam or the Muslim ‘Ummah’. The pervasion of this consensus is a
global Muslim phenomenon, which is harnessed by the savvy urban Western
metropolitan Muslim as much as the illiterate villager in the deep outback. In fact, the
Rushdie case and the Gulf War, prime evidences in the conspiracy argument,
triggered my own ruminations in this direction and eventually drew me into the
subject matter of International Relations proper. I have however demonstrated in this
thesis that not only is the power politics prism for US policy to Pakistan severely
lacking during the selected period in which archival material is plentiful and
available, but that an alternative understanding outside of the positivist-empiricist
bankruptcy can yield a more effective insight into Washington’s policy - one which
clearly avoids the entire conspiracy debate. Why for instance, I ask my Realist
colleagues, did Washington ally itself from 1950 to 1954 with a Pakistan that was
militarily, politically and economically weak and in the process incurred the wrath of
the more powerful India?
That Pakistan represents the object state of US policy in this thesis is not surprising
given that aside from its large Muslim population, not only did my own parents
emigrate from there, but also my frequent interaction with its society and culture.
There is much good in the people of Pakistan but whether I should be expectant of
Pakistan’s upper societal or foreign policy strata to assess or engage anything of what
I have written is however a different case, since Pakistan’s ‘educated’ classes, both
indigenous and expatriate, have tended to exemplify neatly Einstein’s concerns about
capitalism’s corruption of education,
“The crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our
whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated
competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to
worship acquisitive success (and the glorification of power) as a
prerequisite for a future career.”^
A Einstein, “Why Socialism” Monthly Review, Volume 1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
On a final and personal note, my Lord has granted me abundant mercy that has been
expressed in a multitude of forms, and for which I am infinitely grateful. I first want
to thank my academic supervisor. Dr Christopher Coker, for his invaluable role in my
thesis. His critical observations, help in locating material and constructive advice
made my researching and vmting this thesis a highly enjoyable and hassle-fi’ee
experience and I shall sorely miss the regularity of our dryly humoured interaction. I
also want to thank for their comments on my thesis. Professor Fred Halliday, Dr
Khalid A1 Mansour, Lord Meghnad Desai, and Mark Hoffinan under whom I was also
fortunate to complete my undergraduate degree. I am also grateful to the staff at the
British Library of Political and Economic Science, the British Library, the University
of London Senate House Library and the US Congress Library for their assistance.
At one level of something of an extended family, I have drawn support from, been
forced to clarify my own thinking in order to explain and been brought back to earth
repeatedly by my close gem-like fiiends in Reza ‘Style’ Adil, Dr Amir ‘Donkey’
Sheikh, Usman ‘Greenspan’ Aslam, Shahzad ‘Negotiate’ Bhatti and Hassan ‘Lala’
Khan. Within that group, there has also been Ali ‘Smooth’ Miraj whose astute
forensic chartered accounting skills and International Relations background proved
priceless. Symptomatic of the prevalence in Pakistan’s educated classes of Einstein’s
concerns, perhaps the only adult outside of my household who actively encouraged
my pursuing academia and life outside of banking’s bankruptcy was Zakia Zubairi. I
owe her thanks for having faith in me, which I drew upon when others frowned at my
‘lack of ambition’. I also want to express appreciation for our many close family
fiiends who have been there when we needed them, but especially the Adatia’s and
Manzur’s though this acknowledgement does neither their kindness nor our
relationship the remotest of justice.
Finally, within our household, my brother and sister have had to put up with a lot
while I have been engrossed in my thesis - admission of which will no doubt stretch
their scientific smiles. I want to thank Asim and Farheen for their lenience while I
have been engrossed in my work, an appreciation that also genuinely extends to the
more recent arrivals of Isabelle and Sophia Ali into our household. I also have to
thank Saman for her tolerance and support during my studies. The early stages of
marriage do not deserve to be burdened with the type of heavy work load that this
study has often demanded, especially since hopes of summer walks through Hyde
Park or Sunday brunches in the West End were quickly dashed into my incoherent
monologue brainstormings or my rushing from one text to the next.
Ultimately, the core expression of my Lord’s Mercy has been through my parents. I
am tempted to start by thanking my mother for the use of her dining table as my study
centre for something close to a decade. I will of course resist the temptation. Yet in
seriousness, without their sacrifices, love, support and dedication, it is impossible that
I would either be as contented as I am or completing any formal studies whatsoever.
Mom and Dad have played different and contrasting roles in this context and without
the other, the platform on which I stand would certainly not exist. Nonetheless, this
thesis’s dedication, emphatically so as it is my first dedicated accomplishment, is to
my mother under whose feet, the light of my heavens break through.
When there was no land and no sky,
When there was absolutely nothing,
There was only You, there was only You
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, “Allah Hoo’
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 - The Subjectivity of Objectivity - Opening Space 1
Re-Constructing Realities 9
Identity 13
Identity Narratives 18
Identity Narratives: Categorising and Attaching Meaning 23
Identity Narratives: Engaging 30
International Relations and Identity Narratives 33
Modernity and Identity 37
CHAPTER 2 - Identity Narratives - America 44
The Mission 47
Capitalism 52
Exceptionalism 54
White Anglo-Saxon 58
Anti-Communism: America’s Meta-Identity 61
Identity Narratives and India 71
Engagement Suppressant 74
CHAPTER 3 - Truman Part I - Pakistan and Cognitive Teething 86
Non-Cognition 87
Object Emergence: Pakistan 89
Understanding Pakistan: Early Strategic Limitations 96
South Asian Regionalism 100
Lack of Interest 109
South Asia 114
London and the Lack of Access 118
Anti-Communism 121
Emerging Meanings 129
Nehru: Independence and the Creation of India 132
Pakistan: Asiatic or Muslim Arab 144
CHAPTER 4 - Truman Part II - Korea - A Cognitive Catalyst 163
Korea - A Cognitive Catalyst 164
Pakistan and the Middle East 168
Dispute Settlement Revisited 175
Frustrated Narratives 179
Pushtunistan and Kashmir: Dogged Endurance 180
Pakistan and the Middle East II 185
India and Asia 192
Chester Bowles 202
Growing Interest 207
Growing A ccess 211
The Precipice of Engagement 213
Pakistan: Strategic Weakness 219
CHAPTER 5 - Eisenhower Part I: Dulles and the Engaging of Pakistan 232
Adjusting the Subject: John Foster Dulles and the Polarising of Meaning
234
Engaging Pakistan 241
Suspending Anomalies 257
Sub j ect - Object Flux : Analytical V acillation 266
Pakistan: Diminishing Engagement 275
Re-Seeing Anomalies 281
CHAPTER 6 - Eisenhower Part II - Pakistan and the Loss of Meaning 303
Dwight David Eisenhower and Narrative Reconfiguration 304
The American Mission and Resurrecting ‘India 312
’
Pakistan: Re-Cognition 325
Tension 328
Conflict Resolution 336
Diminishing Cognition 340
Diminishing Engagement 348
And the Ghost of John Foster Dulles 355
CHAPTER 7 - Conclusion 374
BIBLIOGRAPHY 381