It is often said that the enemy of an enemy is a friend as the USA has recently discovered. The US airstrike that killed Soleimani – arguably Iran’s second most powerful leader after its supreme leader, the US reached out to Pakistan to garner support for the airstrike at a time when China, Russia and France, all permanent members of the UN Security Council have taken a bleak view of the US airstrike. Pakistan on its part had seen border escalations with Iran in the past few years and the attack by ‘Baloch militants’ that killed 14 members of the Pakistan Armed Forces had the markings of Iranian intelligence chief Soleimani. Hence, it was only natural that both the US and Pakistan team up to counter any Iranian attempts of vengeance.
The USA in return has resumed military cooperation with the terror exporting state after a span of two years. The USA ordered the attack on Soleimani to protect American interests but resuming military cooperation with Pakistan only exposes its hypocrisy as Pakistan has also got American blood on its hands by harbouring terrorist groups like Tehrik-e-Taliban which targets American soldiers in Afghanistan. Besides, Pakistan’s patronage of terror groups waging Jihad is well known around the world.
The US airstrike which killed one of Iran’s most popular leaders has set the alarm bells ringing of an all-out war between the two nuclear-capable nations as Iran has vowed to take revenge. There is no denying that Soleimani had American blood on its hands and was a huge hindrance to the country’s operations in the Middle East and had threatened the USA in the past. While eliminating Soleimani was in the best interests of the USA, allying with Pakistan will only endanger its soldiers as the revanchist state continues to harbour terrorists who have in the past killed American soldiers.
United States (US)’s former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley in her book revealed that ‘Pakistan Harbours Terrorists Who Try To Kill US Soldiers’. Haley categorically pointed out that the US provided Pakistan with more aid than almost all the nations, highlighting that in 2017 alone, the aid from the US to Pakistan Military amounted to almost a billion dollars.
“We give Pakistan more aid than all but a handful of countries. In 2017 the US gave their military almost $1 billion in aid. Pakistan opposes us at the UN a full 76 per cent of the time. What’s worse, Pakistan harbours terrorists who go out and try to kill our American soldiers,” Haley wrote in her book. “I brought these findings and others to President Trump. He was outraged. Soon after, he asked Congress to pass legislation ensuring that US foreign aid only goes to promote US interests and US friends,” the former top American diplomat said.
There is no denying that the Trump administration started with a hardline stance against Pakistan during the first half of its tenure as it sought to apply pressure on Pakistan to curb the terrorist elements bustling in the country. According to U.S. media reports, citing unnamed administration officials, the White House was considering a variety of new pressure tactics. These included increasing the number of drone strikes in Pakistan and revoking the country’s status as a major non-NATO ally. “We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting,” Trump thundered in an August 2017 speech laying out his South Asia strategy. “But that will have to change, and that will change immediately. No partnership can survive a country’s harbouring of militants and terrorists who target U.S. service members and officials.” Trump did follow through with his statements as in early 2018 he announced a suspension of Pakistani security assistance.
The IMET programme which the US is now resuming with Pakistan in return for its support was frozen by the Trump Administration two years ago due to Islamabad’s lack of action against terror groups. It may be noted that the State Department administers IMET, a programme which offers spaces to foreign military officers at US military education institutions, such as the US Army War College and the US Naval War College. This signals a confused and messy policy by the US on Pakistan as on one hand, Trump himself chides Pakistan for its lack of action against the terrorists and the misuse of US aid which severely hampered the USA’s operations in Afghanistan. While on the other hand, the Trump administration is happily giving space to Pakistan military officers at their defence institutions.
Trump’s initial hardline stance against Pakistan soon changed when he came to know the magnitude of the mess that the USA has created in Afghanistan. Any punitive action against Pakistan would force the latter to press America’s jugular vein — suspend the supply routes on its soil used to convey material for the U.S. and other NATO militaries in Afghanistan. This happened once before, in 2011, after NATO helicopters killed 24 Pakistani border troops. Islamabad kept the routes closed for more than seven months until U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued an apology for the border incident.
The Obama administration’s misadventures in the Middle East are well documented and the democrat President regularly slammed for its soft stance on Pakistan despite the fact that America’s no.1 public enemy Osama Bin Laden was found and killed by America in Abbottabad. Obama had bowed down before Pakistan and adopted a soft approach owing to a self-inflicted wound in Afghanistan. Trump was elected to undo the previous administration’s misadventures and Trump made it a point to criticise Pakistan at every opportunity in the run-up to the 2016 Presidential elections. Trump is well aware of the threat posed by Pak-sponsored terrorists and recently retreated his stand on the aid by claiming: “We were paying USD 1.3 billion to Pakistan as aid, for many years. The problem was…Pakistan was not doing anything for us. They were subversive. They were going against us. I ended that about a year and a half ago, the USD 1.3 billion (aid),” Trump said during his meeting with Khan.
Unlike, 2011 there are far fewer US troops in Afghanistan as the USA attempts to completely leave the war-torn country. In Imran Khan, Trump has arguably one of the most incompetent and weakest Pakistan Prime Minister in recent history. Imran Khan is nothing but a puppet a fact well realised by the Trump administration as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Pakistan Army Chief to garner support for the USA’s actions in Iran instead of dialling Imran Khan. The Pakistan Military on its part is raging against the country’s judiciary over Bajwa’s extension and with its economy in the doldrums and a Narendra Modi sized threat to Pakistan, Trump has spectacularly failed to make Pakistan mend its ways despite the country being in all sorts of turmoil.
Soleimani, an Iranian Major General and the second most powerful man in Iran was painted a terrorist, a murderer, a monster for supporting terror in West Asia and having American blood on his hands. Why then, is the USA not striking Pakistan’s terror groups and military apparatus, individuals in Pakistan army that protect, aid and abet terror groups? Trump has a lot of uncomfortable questions to answer over his muddled Pakistan policy.