The one country which has been blessed with luck and which somehow manages to successfully beg big powers to fund its failing economy, is Pakistan. Now, as the links of Islamabad and the Taliban are laying all around, the demand of sanctioning Islamabad are mounting in the USA. This development has rattled Pakistan, and the terrorist nation is somehow trying to garner enough favour in Washington to save itself from such travesty. Pakistan has deployed its diplomatic might just to get Joe Biden to have a phone call with Imran Khan, but they are being hilariously ignored.
As the United States mourns the failure of its two-decade campaign in Afghanistan, doubts have been raised about Pakistan’s participation in the Taliban’s re-emergence. A group of US senators has sponsored a bill that calls for an investigation into Pakistan’s participation in the Taliban’s return, as well as sanctions against any businesses found to have aided the group. The manner in which events have developed since the Taliban took power, especially the composition of the caretaker government (which includes designated terrorists), has raised fears that Afghanistan may be exploited as a safe haven by terrorist groups.
Pakistan’s failed attempts
A letter by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan accepts the utter failure of the Pakistan embassy and diplomatic community, in securing a phone call from Joe Biden with Imran Khan.
Pakistan admits its diplomacy has collapsed in Washington DC. Imran Khan is still waiting for the phone call. Someone tell him Ghabrana Nahi Hai! pic.twitter.com/FMNohdas0w
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) October 6, 2021
Islamabad expressed its dissatisfaction with the situation, but Prime Minister Imran Khan tried to downplay the phone call issue in one of his recent interviews, saying that the President might be busy. Pakistan, on the other hand, is making attempts and is currently using informal routes to contact President Biden, according to sources. Pakistan asked a ‘influential’ Pakistani American to arrange a phone call between the two leaders for this purpose.
President Biden is friends with the said powerful Pakistani American, and Islamabad is attempting to leverage his ‘good offices.’ When contacted to obtain the official version on the topic, the Foreign Office spokeswoman did not answer, as of writing of this article.
Changing outlook towards Pakistan in the US
A former US national security advisor during the Trump administration has warned legislators against providing any new aid to Pakistan, claiming that Pakistan has “had it both ways” for far too long. Gen (retd) H R McMaster, testifying before a key Congressional committee on Afghanistan, said the US has to hold Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif accountable for some of his comments made following the fall of Kabul in August.
Former US Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan Croker admitted that Pakistan worked against the United States in certain fundamental ways, such as their support for the Taliban.
Pakistan back at the beginning, but this time unsuccessfully
The ‘Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act of 2021,’ presented by a coalition of 22 Republican senators led by Idaho’s Jim Risch, intends to impose penalties on the Taliban and any entities helping the group. The bill proposes imposing “sanctions on individuals supporting the Taliban, including foreign governments,” as well as a “full examination of international assistance to entities that support the Taliban.”
Also read: Ali Babar, a terrorist explained how the Pakistani army brainwashes young men for Jihad
While numerous countries (including China and Russia) have reached out to the Taliban administration, Pakistan is singled out in the bill for its alleged relations with the Taliban. This has brought genuine concerns in Islamabad, as a go-to country with a begging bowl might very well stop giving Pakistan money, and with the situation that it is in, a wave of sanctions will wave off the country from the face of this earth. Given the background, Imran Khan is desperately trying to secure a phone call with Joe Biden but is being ignored hilariously.