What Hillary Clinton Should Say In Pakistan This Week

by Amanda Kloer

Hillary Clinton is on day two of her official three day visit to Pakistan, the first of her career as Secretary of State. I'm pretty sure that while she's there, she'll remember to talk about terrorism and the Taliban. I hope she might even slip in a comment or two about women's rights. But will Clinton mention the rampant debt bondage and slavery that makes modern Pakistan look more like 11th century Europe than a modern nation? And next to terrorism, is that even important?

To borrow some terrorism language, the situation of debt bondage in Pakistan is quickly deteriorating from a Code Orange to a Code This-Whole-Freakin'-Country-Is-Getting-Dragged-Back-Into-the-Dark-Ages. For example, according to TIME Magazine, at least three landlords have held as many as 170 bonded farmworkers at gunpoint on their estates since late September. Most traffickers have tools other than guns to keep workers enslaved, but the fact that these traffickers can hold their victims at gunpoint for months with no government interference speaks to the impotence of the Pakistani government in addressing debt bondage. In Pakistan today, 10% of men own 90% of the land. The vast majority of farmers are somehow indentured, and many of them are caught in false debts and held under the threat of violence -- they are slaves. Debt bondage is not the exception in Pakistan. It would be the rule, if there was any system of enforcement.

The U.S. government hasn't addressed this issue with Pakistan, in part because the Taliban, Al Queda, and all the other violent and extremist goings-on look like a much bigger and more important issue than some farmers not getting their due. Well I've got news for Secretary Clinton and all the foreign policy wons who think they can ignore slavery -- ending slavery in Pakistan will go a long way towards reducing terrorism and creating a peaceful, stable Pakistan.

Here's how it works:

The feudalist system that exists in Pakistan currently is both a cause and a symptom of the political instability there. Debt bondage, corruption, exploitation, and slavery are rampant because there is no stable mechanism to enforce the rule law. In turn, when people are exploited, enslaved, and impoverished by corrupt officials, extremist factions become more attractive and they are more likely to undermine what rule of law exists. This breeds both the social and political chaos that allows radical Taliban leaders to hide in and control large chunks of the country. If Pakistan had a free working class making a living wage, the Taliban could not have gained so much strength as they have today because they would have had many fewer supporters. Slavery and terrorism in Pakistan are connected, and reducing one will help you reduce the other.

So, Secretary Clinton, what you should say in Pakistan this week is that America supports the freedom and prosperity of the Pakistani people. That slavery is unacceptable, and that everyone has a right to freely choose and be paid for work. We cannot hope to ignore slavery and battle terrorism any more than we can hope to ignore oil consumption and battle climate change or ignore fast food advertising and battle obesity. A stable Pakistan with little love for extremists is a free Pakistan.

And, Secretary Clinton, if you'd like to chat about this in person, I have no major plans this weekend and have always wanted to see Islamabad.