A controversy erupted through a statement of the Foreign Minister of the new government, followed by an official statement of the Foreign office of Pakistan rejecting State Department’s press briefing that Secretary Pompeo emphasized Pakistan’s role in dismantling terror networks in the region.
It is presumed that in the secretive discussions Pakistani officials were apologetic on the statement, and blamed the influence of pro Iranian lobby in the government. Is that true? To me YES.
However, facts are entirely different.
The military has isolated herself from providing support to the U.S. in this war on terror. The Trump administration will under no circumstances restore the 2.2 billion (2,200 million) dollars military aid to Pakistan which was given from 2002 to 2014. Today, the U.S. military aid has shrunk to 150 million dollars.
The policies of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is aligned to the United States in the region. Therefore, no support from the KSA should be expected. The entire GCC will follow the same policy.
This has resulted in gradual encroachment of Russia-Iran-Chinese influence in the Pakistani military.
The government of Imran Khan was brought through worst form of rigged elections. I am afraid, if it has anything to do with corruption in a state of selective justice.
This distrust has established the conjecture that Pakistan has changed foreign policy paradigm, as rightly confessed by the Pakistani Foreign Minister at a press briefing.
This is as clear as daylight.
The Iranian Foreign Minister has been welcomed for a state visit by the Pakistani Foreign Minister prior to the visit of Secretary Pompeo. The visit of the =Secretary of State will be followed by a next visit of the Chinese Foreign Minister to Pakistan.
Pakistan’s poor economy has had been a promising target to penetrate. It has been observed that the leadership of the new PTI government has an Iranian grip. The elements supportive of Iran within the oligarchy established themselves from the time of General Pervez Musharraf. The entire of Pakistan was led by an anti American campaign of “Dharna” (sit-ins) against U.S. troops by the new Prime Minister of Pakistan. Failure of Pakistan’s economy was squarely blamed on the U.S. support in America’s war on terror.
The anti American rhetoric is supported by the Pakistani oligarchy. The United States demand of dismantling Haqqani, TTP and Hafiz Saeed networks remains unheard. The civilian government was made a soft target after the Dawn Leaks, and a covert move was used to dislodge the government based on corruption charges, though half of the newly formed government of the PTI constitutes the same old faces involved in earlier corruptions.
Conclusion:
The government of the United States wants to see conclusive evidence of Pakistan’s role in dismantling terror networks. Pakistan is in no position to satisfy U.S. demands. The new foreign policy dynamics is not only counterproductive to the United States policies, but likely to hurt Pakistan at the economic front.
An economic crunch in Pakistan will restrict the survival of the current government of pro-Iran nexus.
By: Gholam Mujtaba, Ed.D., M.D.