US President Donald Trump announced his administration's long-awaited Afghanistan strategy. In his speech, he criticized Pakistan for its alleged role in harboring insurgents working against the US in Afghanistan. With the claim that Pakistan is spreading chaos in Afghanistan, Trump said that the US is giving billions of dollars to Pakistan, but at the same time it is harboring the terrorists that the US is fighting. As the US President acknowledged in his August speech, Pakistan has been a "valuable partner" of the US in the past. In the 1980s, Pakistan was an ally of the United States during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Islamabad also joined hands with Washington to fight the war on terror, which began in 2001. However, US-Pakistan relations have deteriorated due to a series of US outrage and negative incidents against Pakistan for not taking any action against the Haqqani network, including the Salala check post incident and the Raymond Davis case. Islamabad seems to have decided to move away from the US, driven by deviations from the two countries' fundamental strategic issues and Pakistan's growing alternative strategic partners.
Pakistan Complaints
Islamabad thinks that the Trump administration criticized Pakistan with the aim of covering up America's mistakes in Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Khwaja Asif termed the US President's remarks as an attempt to make Pakistan a "scapegoat" for the failure of an 18-year-long effort to defeat the Afghan Taliban. Last month, while addressing the United Nations General Assembly, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that Pakistan's role in counter-terrorism operations on a global scale has led to Pakistan reading a lot of damage and making huge sacrifices and yet in Afghanistan It is particularly sad to blame Pakistan for military or political deadlock.
Pakistani officials have acknowledged that the country may have made some mistakes before but Pakistan's commitment to fight terrorism has remained stagnant over the years.
Another controversial issue in Islamabad is the reduction in US economic and military aid to Pakistan in the last few years. Last year, the Obama administration withheld $ 300 million of military aid from the Coalition Assistance Fund (CSF) for Pakistan. And this year, the Trump administration stopped $ 50 million in aid when US Secretary of Defense James Mattis emphasized Pakistan's failure to take adequate action against the Haqqani network. The Haqqani network is a terrorist organization accused of supporting Islamabad.
The notion that the US has adopted an India-centric approach to regional dynamics is tragic for Pakistan. For example, the US has expressed concern over the China-Pakistan-Economic-Corridor (CPEC). Last week, Secretary Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the project ran through an area that India also claims. It is a signal to Pakistan that the US has started looking at regional geopolitics from the Indian point of view as New Delhi has repeatedly expressed its disappointment over CPEC and Beijing's big One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative. In response, Pakistan has described CPEC as only a development and connectivity project that will bring economic prosperity to the region. Earlier this month, at a ceremony in Washington, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal warned that if the US views the region from India's point of view, it would harm the region and the interests of the US as well.
Islamabad is upset with these incidents because the US has not accepted Pakistan's well-intentioned efforts and sacrifices. Now Pakistan is beginning to be suspicious of the regional intentions of its decades-old partner. The US objective of increasing India's role in Afghanistan is a matter of concern for Islamabad, a side that the Trump administration has not seriously considered in Pakistan's opinion.
Dependency reduction
Islamabad has been able to deal with deteriorating relations with Washington because it no longer depends on the US for arms trade and defense technologies, economic aid, and direct investment. For example, his friendship with Beijing has now become a strategic and economic asset. Islamabad sees the Beijing plan to inject $ 42 billion into CPEC as a means of converting Pakistan into a regional gateway. In addition, China's support on key policy issues at the international level (eg thwarting India's efforts to declare Masood Azhar a terrorist by passing a resolution at the United Nations and speaking out in favor of Pakistani sacrifice in the war against terrorism) Has protected Pakistan from US pressure.
Moscow and Islamabad have also begun to increase their bilateral relations which were full of mistrust during the Cold War. After the removal of the arms embargo against Pakistan in 2014, Russia has now started providing vital military hardware to Pakistan. And both sides have chosen to leave their bitter past by conducting joint military exercises twice in the last two years. Because of these strong ties with other great powers, Islamabad has realized that it is no longer tied to the purpose of US foreign policy.
Healing wounds
Even after many policy differences on important strategic issues, Islamabad cannot completely break its ties with Washington as it is still a global superpower and Pakistan has spent a lot of time and effort on this relationship over the past seven decades. If Pakistan does not heed the US demands to take action against terrorist organizations like the Haqqani network, then the US Congress can take a tough stand on Pakistan and pass a law to declare Pakistan a sponsor of terrorism. At the same time, the Trump administration should be careful and not completely ignore Pakistan's efforts against terrorism, especially when Pakistan has strategic options in the form of China and Russia. But recently there has been some positive momentum in these relationships. The Pakistani army released a Canadian couple who had been held by the Taliban and kept in Pakistan for many years. The release has temporarily restored some mistrust as President Trump called the effort a positive moment of US-Pakistan relations. There are many opportunities, particularly in the area of fighting terrorism, in which a concerted effort from both sides can deliver mutually desirable results.
If regional stability is to be improved, the two countries must work together to reduce the lack of trust.
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