The United States Navy SEALs' triumph with two significant feats for the world community may cause an end to international terrorism.
First, Osama bin Laden was killed in his compound at Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2. Second and equally significant was the Navy Seals' exposure of Pakistan's duplicity in harboring bin Laden for nearly ten years inside Pakistan. In doing so, Pakistan was in breach of the trust and a mutual bargain which was struck between the United Sates and Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf in 2001. Under the bargain, Pakistan has received $20 billion thus far.
In compliance with this bargain, had Pakistan turned bin Laden over to the U.S. when he crossed from Afghanistan to Pakistan through Tora Bora, or at any time thereafter, the United States would not have sustained the enormous damages in blood and wealth during the ten-year war in Afghanistan, including 1,414 American soldiers dead and 9,971 wounded, plus multi-billion dollars for waging the war fighting insurgents supported by Pakistan.
During this interim period (2001-2011), ostensibly Pakistan's spy agency -- Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) -- conspired with bin Laden and his Al Qaeda group and other groups such as Mullah Mohammad Omar of the Afghan Taliban, the Jalaluddin Haqqani network, the Gulbuddin Hekmatyar group and the Pakistani Taliban to kill and injure American soldiers inside Afghanistan.
The ISI played a duality in bad faith pretending to fight terrorism and concurrently being engaged as an accessory to the killing and injuring of American soldiers. ISI was serving as the conduit by sending fighters, roadside bombs and suicide youth to attack American soldiers in Afghanistan. Some elements of ISI knew where bin Laden was in Pakistan since 2001. Otherwise, he could not have remained in Pakistan for as long as he did. In his last residence in Abbottabad, bin Laden felt so secure and comfortable with his wives and children that he did not bother surrounding himself with security guards; he was just another member of the neighborhood community -- safe and secure in that town of Pakistani military elites. He was sending directives through his messengers/couriers directing his world-wide terrorist network for destruction and murder, including American people and property. And the Pakistani government let him do it and assisted the process.
As a matter of retribution, the United Sates has several options when duplicity is firmly ascertained via bin Laden tapes and computer files.
1. Take out Pakistan's atomic facilities, thereby neutralizing its ability to detonate atomic weapons in any future conflicts.2. Dismantle the ISI apparatus and arrest its leadership for crimes against humanity, including judicial criminal prosecutions that have caused the death and dismemberment of thousands of American soldiers and Afghan soldiers and civilians in Afghanistan. But for Pakistan's duplicity, the United States and Afghanistan would not have suffered sustained casualties inside Afghanistan. ISI of Pakistan was the ring leader of a criminal conspiracy whose members included bin Laden and Al Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban, the Jalaluddin Huqqani group, the Mullah Mohammad Omar and the Afghani Taliban, and the Gulbuddin Hekmatyar group.3. Impose war reparation upon Pakistan equal to the present and future value of the following: Work-life earnings loss and the value of life of every American and Afghan soldier and civilian killed since 2001, and the present value and future value of every American and Afghan soldier and civilian who sustained partial or total disabilities for the remainder of their life, plus the military and civilian expenditures of the U.S. war in Afghanistan since 2001 (had Pakistan turned over bin Laden to the U.S. in 2001, there would have been no U.S. war involvement in Afghanistan. Plus $20 billion -- the amount of assistance that Pakistan has received from the United Sates since 2001, plus punitive damages for bad faith.4. Dissect Pakistan into three smaller states -- Baluchistan for the Baluchi separatists including the city of Quetta, Pashtunistan for the Pashtun separatists covering the Pashtun tribal areas including Peshawar and the border areas, and Pakistan proper including Lahore and the Karachi areas. The ongoing domestic dissent in the Pashtun and Baluchi areas are rooted in the exploitative and discriminatory practices of the ruling class of Pakistan -- the Lahore elite -- who have alienated those groups.5. Create a strong civilian government in Pakistan by dismantling the ISI, reducing Pakistan's military prowess and supporting the educated and secular population. Pakistan has a strong judiciary and press at this time. A strong civilian government is needed to implement democratic institutions and processes.6. At a minimum, Pakistan must turn over to the United States Gulbuddin Hekmatyar from the Peshawar area, Jalaluddin Haqqani from the northern Waziristan area and Mullah Mohammad Omar from Quetta, Baluchistan area. These insurgents are shooting at American and Afghan soldiers inside Afghanistan and enjoy safe havens that are provided by ISI and are being sheltered in Pakistan.
It is extraordinary that Pakistan's former president, Mr. Musharraf, still denies that he knew where bin Laden was residing in Pakistan while the current prime minister, Mr. Yousuf Raza Gilani, and the Pakistani parliament are trying to shift the debate from Pakistan's duplicity to the American violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. They believe that the rubric of sovereignty will save the day for them. Not so. The Navy SEALs' possession and custody of bin Laden's computer files and tapes will end that debate, which may identify Pakistan as the most dangerous nation on earth.
Nake M. Kamrany is professor of economics and director of program in law and economics at the University of Southern California and a member of California Bar.