by Niala Mohammad
Whether you agree with Carlotta Gall or believe that her claims are parallel to a script from a Bollywood movie, Carlotta Gall is not fazed. Carlotta herself says she is ready for the media and Pakistani government to “totally trash” her but first she wants to put her book, The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan 2001-2014, out there and let the people of Pakistan decide what they want to do with the information.
Ms. Gall admits, “What I did perhaps stirred up a hornets nest but it is necessary…we need to give a better service to the people so the people [of Pakistan] can understand what the government is doing.”
The lack of supporting evidence in her claims has been the main point of contention for critics. However, critics and fans both largely agree that Carlotta Gall has addressed the elephant in the room. Daily Times, analyst Dr. Mohammad Taqi writes, “She has a point that such operations are by design covert and planned for maximum deniability, thus precluding hard evidence of foul play, but it would have been helpful to see more supporting information in the book about both the al Qaeda leaders and Mullah Omar. It is unlikely though that she would convince any naysayer unless a directive signed in ink is produced, which obviously never happens in the murky world of clandestine wars.”
Irrespective of Carlotta’s lack of supporting evidence in her book, she seems to have grabbed the attention of Pakistan and its citizens who have either become defensive or dumfounded by the accusations made.
The Pakistan Embassy in Washington, DC immediately issued a press release responding to Carlotta Gall’s New York Times story, stating “senior US officials have on a number of occasions stated on record that they had seen no intelligence linking Government of Pakistan and any of its agencies to OBL’s presence in Abbottabad. To still believe otherwise and to resurrect the issue through unnamed sources and unconfirmed reports does not deserve attention.”
On April 11, 2014, The Hudson Institute in Washington, DC hosted an event where Carlotta Gall discussed her latest book, “The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan 2001-2014”. Carlotta Gall believes that the problems faced in Afghanistan can be traced back to the policies of Pakistan’s “politico-military-intelligence establishment” aka ISI. She claims that her book “gives a voice to Afghans”, which vocalizes and legitimizes their concern over Pakistan’s involvement in Afghanistan’s continuous instability.
[Carlotta Gall at The Hudson Institute, Washington DC]
Carlotta Gall also vocalized her concern for the safety of journalists working in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She stated, “journalists in Pakistan work under extreme pressure”, a pressure that she is all too familiar with as she detailed the physical assault she endured while reporting from the region in the opening of her 328 page-14 chapter book.
You can listen to Carlotta Gall’s interview with VOA Deewa Radio on the link below.
One response to “Stirring Up a Hornet’s Nest with Carlotta Gall”
Being a lawyer i would say that claims without solid evidence are castles of sand . I think the world has moved on and Pointing a finger at ISI without a rock solid proof clearly indicates that the author just wants to sell her book and nothing else.
Pakistan , its Govt and its ISI have all moved on and i dont think Pakistanis should take this book seriously.