Poll: Nearly 6 in 10 Pakistanis View U.S. as Enemy

Fida, and I would say the India-centric version is a mistake and has been for 60 years. This zero-sum competition with India has mortgaged the future of 1.5 billion people and distorted economics, politics and culture in both countries, but more so in Pakistan. At its core, this version is saying "we cannot provide peace or security or development to our own people, but look how successfully we have made sure that India cannot provide the same to ITS people either. WE may not get anywhere, but by god, neither will India". Building JF-17 thunders and Al-Khalid tanks seems like the cat's whiskers when you are a well fed army officer (or their cousin, as the case may be) but what if we had never gone down this disastrous path? The possibilities stagger the mind....
Lamhon ney khita ki thi, saddiyon ney saza payee (moments erred, centuries suffered..)

My apologies for the long comment, but this is a piece I wrote 3 years ago (and I swear not a word has been changed since then). I decided not to publish it, so this is the "raw form", not polished for publication. Fida sahib can figure out where he fits in this scheme (btw, the Urdu proverb is "zubaan e khalq ko nakkara e khuda sumjho" not "nakkara e khuda hoti hai", its a minor difference and I am being pedantic) ..
Based mostly on traffic on our blog and other email exchanges, here are some versions of what is happening in Pakistan. As you can see, most are pessimistic, but even the pessimists dont agree on what they are pessimistic about.
1. The chickens come home to roost: This version is based on the following narrative: The army raised thousands of jihadis for war in Afghanistan and Kashmir. It supported the rise of a vast network of jihadi organizations and madressas to back up this Jihad. Its "strategic thinkers" dreamed (still dream?) of empire in Central Asia and the complete defeat of India. All this was done by a relatively small core of truly committed jihadis, who manipulated all the other officers, mainly by using terms like strategic depth and Indian threat, which terms are known to lead to a complete shutdown of normal mental functions in senior Pakistani army officers. The officers being manipulated were aware of the Jihadi enterprise in some detail, but do not seem to have given too much thought to its implications as long as they got their residential plots and perks drove around in staff cars. The Jihadis had a plan and real (though dangerous) all round vision and exhibited remarkable patience and guile and determination. The "other officers" were thoroughly duped, though in their defense one can say that they are senior army officers, hence not required to think. The rest of the population was never taken into confidence at all and was manipulated by the Jihadis sophisticated psyops people via their preferred method of "create confusion and keep moving".
When 9-11 forced a U-turn of sorts on Musharraf, he took full advantage of the limited imagination, arrogance and greed of the Pentagon and the Bush NSC to string them along for as much cash as he could get. He happily took the money but at every step, did a little less than the minimum required. Hoping that once the Americans got tired (an absolute given, as far as the army's view of things is concerned) we will be back to status quo ante and richer by a few billion dollars. Being one of the great strategic thinkers of the army (remember Kargil?), he clearly believed that defeating India in Kashmir by military means was a "core strategic requirement", as was maintaining Pakistani influence in Afghanistan, therefore the "good Taliban" needed to be saved and Kashmiri jihadis need to be kept "in reserve". In spite of clear evidence that some of these options will blow up in our faces, nothing was ever done pro-actively. At every step, change was forced on the army after much resistance and double talk and after allowing the problem to spread and grow.
And the armys brilliant handling of the situation was not limited to the Jihadis. From MQM in Karachi (May 12th massacre remains the classic example) to Baluchistan to electricity to local bodies to manipulated politics to destroyed judiciary, his rule was a record of one disaster after another. There are a few bright spots, for example, the excellent work of the Higher Education Commission and the growth of the independent media. Progress in these areas was notable, but without the writ of the state, without basic governance, all these gains remain fragile.
Now, the same geniuses are about to fight the next stage in the war. Cross your fingers and pray....
2. The army giveth, the army taketh away, but ground realities dictate the pace: This is the view that says that Jihadism is the creation of some highly motivated Muslims, led by local ideologues and financed by Saudi cash. The army has not led this movement; it has simply followed it and used it where it felt the national interest was being helped. After 9-11, the army high command tried to roll back the jihadi project, but the task is much bigger than outsiders can know. Its a miracle we are this far along. Give the army time, Inshallah they will solve this problem, but it takes patience and careful handling. Liberals are asking for too much. The army itself has to be reoriented to the new paradigm without breaking apart and without triggering a jihadi coup. Similarly, all the civilian institutions were worthless anyway. The system as it exists is oppressive and totally unfair. But we are the elite. If we "reform the system", where will WE go? The army needs to rebuild the whole thing but it takes time. In any case, the people of Pakistan are not ready to oppose shariah-loving fighters of Islam. They have to be gently manipulated and bribed into this fight. And of course, America must make India give us concessions so we can cooperate better. We are almost there. Loose talk will destroy this delicate operation; dont mess it up.
3. The optimistic liberal view: Pakistan is slowly but steadily developing from the bottom up. The army and its manipulated politicians are both retreating in the face of the new civil society. There is a new educated Pakistani middle class. A new media. Much better education. Real research. Willingness to discuss all options and all opinions. Willingness to look beyond the jihadis as well as the Westoxicated elite and its colonial mentality. Unfortunately, this velvet revolution is limited to Punjab, Sindh and Peshawar. Fortunately, these areas constitute most of our population; and so on. Overseas Pakistanis and the parasites of the old elite have no idea what is coming up from below. All will be well.
4. Everything is exaggerated: this view holds that liberals and jihadists and everyone else are exaggerating the situation. The system is slowly working out its kinks. Pakistan is a new nation. We are only 62 years old. Look at America. Civil war, genocide of the Indians, robber barons, Wild West and whatnot. We are working things out better than India, where Muslims are burnt to death in the thousands and democracy is all about criminals in parliament. Our army is one of the finest in the world. There are twenty different insurgencies in India and nobody calls them a failed state. We are a nuclear power. America and Israel and India have conspired for 60 years to destroy us and we have built bombs and JF-17 thunders and AlKhalid tanks. India cannot even build a jet trainer. Our missiles are the best in Asia. Indian ones dont even fly. Nobody sleeps on the footpath in Karachi; millions sleep in shit in Calcutta. Yes, this version is very "India centric".
5. The coming caliphate. This version says its time to accept the inevitable and let the Taliban roll into town. This country is an Islamic country and the people want Islamic rule and the elite is not delivering and will have to migrate elsewhere. This version can be presented as positive or negative depending on where the narrator stands in relation to shariah compliant Islam.
NO version expects Zardari and Rahman Malik to perform any miracles.

Take your pick..

I know that this is a minority opinion on most blogs, but I think these polls put the cart before the horse. "public opinion" on National security matters is not created by the public, its created by opinion-makers, usually opinion-makers connected to the national security apparatus. The exception is the true puppet state, where people totally mistrust their security apparatus, rightly regarding them as foreign agents and oppressors. The second situation does not really apply in Pakistan (though its beginning to be seen in the hardcore jihadi fringe). For most Pakistanis, the US is the enemy because the National security apparatus makes sure that is the message they get....Check out brasstacks and PKKH and Ahmed Qureshi and so on. These are not opposition websites or commentators, they are supporters and (very likely) agents of the national security organs....It is true that US support for Israel has created a reservior of ill-will in all Muslim states, but that by itself would not be enough to explain this situation. This current hatred is mostly based on the notion that Pakistan was going along famously until the US came and forced them join the "war on terror". And this viewpoint is not spontaneous, its carefully nurtured by the "establishment" so that they can avoid blame for the disastrous situation the country finds itself in. For example, this ensures that few people question (or are even aware of) how the same establishment created the terrorists they are now having to hunt down. Instead, the dominant narrative is that we were up to our usual good works until America came and made us do bad things, which caused some people to take up arms against us, OR, that even the people taking up arms are just American agents, sent to "destabilize Pakistan" so that the Americans can steal our nuclear bomb before the world war that is due to start in 2012.
I know, it sounds like a surreal mix of decontextualized facts and incredible fairy tales to me too, but check out PKKH and see for yourself.