This is apropos a Business Recorder editorial "A new Pak-US spat" carried by the newspaper on Sunday. The newspaper has concluded its argument by saying that "Making a bad situation worse, in his policy statement on Afghanistan and South Asia, President Trump rode rough shod on Pakistan's sensitivities by assigning a greater role to India in Afghanistan. Anyone familiar with this region's geo-politics knows this is a recipe for trouble. Pakistan cannot be expected to allow its arch-rival, India, to pose a two-front threat to it. Until and unless the US reviews that part of its policy, the divergences will continue to cause problems."

That fast deteriorating law and order situation in Afghanistan is a fact that strongly negates the efficacy of the Trump administration's policy in relation to South Asia and Afghanistan. It has also led to emboldening India to grow its belligerence on the Line of Control and the Working Boundary on a massive scale. In a nutshell, the new US policy has only heightened tensions in the region.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2018