‘From the bottom of our souls, we hate you.’

Taliban militants have attacked the Pakistani army from strongholds in the Swat Valley and Waziristan; they have conquered lands, seized farms and property, executed and tortured “detainees,” and violated agreements with their own Pakistani government, profoundly destabilizing the entire nation. But to the average Pakistani, the Taliban are at least Muslims, brothers where dialog and understanding are at least possible. It’s a family dispute.

Ask the average “man or woman in the street” who is the greatest threat to Pakistan on earth today, and the answer is pretty uniformly “India,” a fellow nuclear and regional power, albeit predominantly Hindu, that has steadfastly maintained its continuing right to border state, Kashmir, a region with a substantial Muslim population and significant connections to Muslim Pakistan. Ask the same person how they feel about the United States, even in a post-George Bush world, and you have a pretty good chance to get a strong vituperative in response.

Our “war on terror” has resulted in thousands of “refugees” (many of them well-armed Taliban fighters) from Afghanistan pouring across the border into Pakistan, our missile-launching drones have decimated more than one Pakistani village, and our campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq have been viewed as anti-Muslim. It is an American war, and notwithstanding our press of military and civilian aid to Pakistan to aid in the fight against the Taliban, this is most certainly not a fight that most Pakistanis want to join. And without a Pakistani solution to Jihadist militancy – which appears to be a most elusive goal – regional stability and success in our Afghan campaign are likely to fail.

Undersecretary of State, Judith McHale, was in Pakistan as part of an Obama-administration effort to rebuild bridges of understanding between the U.S. and the Pakistani people. She knew the road was a rough one, and she faced a private interview with a harsh critic of America, Ansar Abbasi. He was most candid, according to the August 19^th New York Times, in his assessment: ““ ‘You should know that we hate all Americans,’ ” Ms. McHale said Mr. Abbasi told her. “ ‘From the bottom of our souls, we hate you.’ ””

The Times bottom lines the difficulty we face in securing any genuine support from the Pakistani masses, the very people who elect the governments with which we must deal: “… Mr. Abbasi’s reaction — a response that, Ms. McHale acknowledged, apparently reflects the feelings of about 25 percent of the population, according to a recent poll — demonstrated just how tough the job is. For all of the administration’s efforts to call attention to the nonmilitary ties that would bind the two countries, America is still being judged by many Pakistanis as an uncaring behemoth whose sole concern is finding Osama bin Laden, no matter the cost in civilian Pakistani lives.”

Even as President Obama avoids using the word “terrorism” in his speeches directed at Muslim states, our legacy remains; we are viewed as a nation obsessed with terrorism, and we easily label those who disagree with us as “terrorists.” Even as that policy has materially altered, because it was hammered home at so many governmental speeches from 2001 to 2008, it remains the single clear image, in the minds of so many Muslims, of who and what America is and represents to them.

Even as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shows the world the sheer absurdity of a “free election” in Iran, the United States is still viewed as the Muslim equivalent of an “Axis of Evil.” If you saw the news on August 20^th, undoubtedly, you witnessed cheering crowds in Libya greeting the arrival of Lockerbie bomber who had been released from a Scottish prison. That’s how they really feel about a man who blew up an American civilian aircraft, killing 270 human beings, 189 of whom were U.S. citizens.

It is going to take lots of time, continuing efforts to reverse our image and consistency in our new foreign policy directions to reverse this negative perception. The most obvious opportunity on the table: The Israeli-Palestinian front offers the U.S. an opportunity to become a peacemaker, a negotiating mediator, addressing legitimate Israeli security concerns while finding a path to a truly independent Palestinian state.

I’m Peter Dekom, and I approve this message.