Pakistan Not Deterred by Trump’s Afghan Policy That Favors India

Islamabad is extremely suspicious of Donald Trump’s South Asia policy because it gives an open cheque to India for mounting a double front against Pakistan.

Posted on 09/5/17
By Imtiaz Gul | Via Hindustan Times
Pakistan's cabinet committee on defense met twice in a week after President Trump's speech announcing new policy for Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s cabinet committee on defense met twice in a week after President Trump’s speech announcing new policy for Afghanistan.

A unanimous parliamentary resolution in Islamabad on August 30, which denounced United States President Donald Trump’s “complete disregard for Pakistan’s vast sacrifices” in counter-terror efforts and called on the government to consider suspending cooperation with the US, possibly defined the new contours of ties with Washington. Also, the tone and tenor of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who chaired two emergency huddles of the National Security Committee (NSC), a forum comprising top civilian and army officials, indicated that after a decade-and-a half of rocky ties Pakistani civilian and military elites have decided to collectively reject Trump’s intimidation of Pakistan while unveiling his new Afghan and South Asia strategy, on August 20.

 

With this Pakistan drew the line between its own course of anti-terror action and the demands placed by Trump. It went into an “enough is enough” mode in unison, and foreign minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif put off his Washington visit, advising Alice Wells, US secretary of state for South and Central Asia, to do the same to avoid mutual embarrassments.

 

Both Abbasi and army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa openly rebuked Trump for singling out Pakistan as the cause of Afghanistan’s troubles, and instead demanded “due” recognition of its material losses (up to $125 billion) and human sacrifices (nearly 70,000) in the anti-terror war. Abbasi went to the extent of forecasting doom for Trump’s Afghan policy.

 

And there are cogent reasons for this bravado in Islamabad.

 

First, Trump and Prime Minister Modi’s ascendant views on Pakistan have fuelled frustration and driven the political Right and Left into believing that the “unholy collusion” comprising India, Afghanistan and the US is aimed at hurting the interests — not only of Pakistan but also of its political allies such as China and Russia. Even the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), an ardent supporter for friendly relations with India, and Imran Khan’s PTI, appeared incensed over the India-US synergy on Afghanistan. Raza Rabbani, the chairman of the upper house of parliament and a former PPP stalwart, too, openly speaks of New Delhi’s intransigence.

 

Second, most Pakistani officials insist, that the Trump strategy gives an open cheque to India for mounting a double front against Pakistan, and hence are extremely suspicious of the motives.

 

Click here to read complete article at Hindustan Times.

Check Also

Book Review: The Tribal Pakhtun as ‘Fixer’

Going by the warlike history of the region, journalism and the fixer within it become “short term slavery” in the service of relentless imperialist forces that have long kept the region unstable.

US Policy of ‘Pragmatic Engagement’ Risks Legitimatizing Taliban Rule

The Biden administration has a choice: Try to keep the Doha deal alive by pressuring the Taliban into intra-Afghan talks, or accept that the deal is now dead. Either way, “pragmatic engagement” with the Taliban has shown itself to be wanting.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.