US-Pak relations appear set for a makeover. The giveaway is the testimony of Secretary of State, Antony Blinken before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the mood amongst the members of the all-powerful body.
This marks a new low for Pakistani diplomacy already smarting under the White House’s public snub of ‘no phone call’ even after Prime Minister Imran Khan and his National Security Advisor (NSA) Moeed Yusuf went public with their sense of hurt.
Post -withdrawal of troops from Talibanised Afghanistan, Washington has every reason to shed all its illusions about its ‘major non-Nato ally’. Pakistan has not helped its cause with its constant games of deception after the US drove the Taliban out of Kabul nearly 20 years ago.
Both the Democratic and the Opposition Republican party Senators grilled Blinken but he was short on details on the reassessment in the works. The Biden administration, which has surprised the world with its pull back decision, may spring another surprise since the State Department says that the US has run out of patience with a double-faced Pakistan, and its alter ego, China.
The China-Pakistan duo have a vested interest in keeping the Taliban firmly in the Kabul saddle. The situation will not change even if Washington again decides to improve ties with Islamabad. Pakistan Army, which controls the foreign policy sees the ties with the US through India prism. With its raging China rivalry, the US may not like to ‘abandon’ India; it means back to square one – Pakistan’s wish remains unfulfilled.
Senators who participated in the hearing at the Foreign Relations Committee were angry with Pakistan for its consistent dishonesty and the apparent willingness of Washington to lump it all. In so many words they termed the policy as namby-pamby, and said it only helped Pakistan which considers Taliban as a partner in beefing up its terrorism centric foreign policy.
The ‘Lion of Panjshir’, Ahmed Shah Masood, assassinated by the Taliban, had once famously said that ‘for peace in Afghanistan, Pakistan has to be kept away.’ He could not have been more prophetic, considering the developments since August 15.
The non-stop celebrations in Pakistan over the Taliban ‘victory’ validate the Masood-Speak. If the US administration is to take another look at its Pakistan policy, it will have to factor in the triumphalism reverberating across the land, as also Taliban 2.0 cruelties inflicted by its Ministry of Vice and Virtue particularly on women and journalists.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, himself has set the tone for triumphalism by describing the Taliban ‘victory’ as Afghans breaking from the ‘shackles of slavery’. He has long been an admirer of the Taliban; while in the Opposition, he enjoyed the sobriquet of ‘Taliban Khan’ – referring to them in glowing terms and castigating the US for befriending ‘Demon’ India.
The unspoken reality, however, is that Pakistani elite – civilian as well as their Army masters nurse a ‘secret’ desire for a foothold in the Eldorado of the world -not merely for the love of green backs but also for its array of offensive weapons which cannot be matched by the ‘all weather’ friend.
Also, the Pakistani elite has long been inclined towards the West, looking for permanent abodes, studying in Western educational institutions and loving the good life in those parts of the world that is so dramatically different from the oppressive and constricted life in the feudal society at home. Many Pakistanis are upset with the American visa restrictions.
There has never been a long queue outside the Chinese embassy in Islamabad or Chinese consulates elsewhere in the land of the pure as Pakistanis love to describe their Islamic Republic, seeking visas to visit China, much less looking for real estate in the country of their ‘iron brother.’
Put simply, the Biden administration still has a trump card to check the Talibanised exuberance of Pakistan. But the ‘reassessment’ Blinken is hinting at can end up as yet another mirage thanks to the American penchant not to look beyond its nose.
Despite his strongest denunciation – “Pakistan fooled the US, milked it for billions of dollars in the fight against terror but supported the Taliban that was killing US soldiers”, President Donald Trump embraced Pakistan for his Doha deal with the Taliban.
Scepticism laced with optimism remains a mystery inside an enigma till President Biden unveils his new Pak policy that fits into his new thrust in the Indo-Pacific. (FLPolicy)