The Foreign Service Journal, September 2007

Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif notwithstanding, mod- erate secular parties routinely won some 90 percent of the vote. The Islamists were a powerless fringe there. Only after Musharraf expelled the two leading opposi- tion figures and entered into a marriage of convenience with the Islamists did they enjoy a modest renaissance. With military rule causing corruption to skyrocket and the writ of the state to erode, militant Islamists are filling the vacuum by challenging and supplanting the state, and terrorism is flourishing. Trusting the strongman turns out to be a poor substitute for the patient work of building democracy on a foundation of broad political pluralism. Values Matter What does all this mean for fashioning an effective counterterrorism policy? Contrary to the Bush adminis- tration’s inclinations, human rights are not the problem but part of the solution. Defeating terrorism requires a foreign policy built on strict respect for human rights and their vigorous promotion. But that requires practic- ing what we preach and eschewing the quick fix of friendly autocrats for the long, difficult work of building democracy. It is perhaps not surprising that in the wake of terror- ist attacks as shocking as those of 9/11, the Bush admin- istration announced that “the gloves come off,” in the infamous words of its former CIA counterterrorism director, Cofer Black. But by now it should be painfully obvious that toughness does not necessarily mean effec- tiveness. It may seem counterintuitive, but a counterterrorism effort that respects human rights is not a weak one, but smart and pragmatic. That is because human rights are not an obstacle, but a reflection of widely shared, funda- mental values. Because values matter — from the quest for popular cooperation in fighting terrorism to the life- and-death battle with the terrorist recruiter — a coun- terterrorism policy that flouts universal standards will fail to achieve the security it seeks. F O C U S 32 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 7