Pakistan has plausible reasons to be mistrustful of the US as the latter has the history of throwing its friends under the bus and reneging on its promises. What it did in the case of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak a few years ago is a strong case in point. Unfortunately, however, the Trump administration has gone a step further as it punishes America's enemies and friends alike. Penalizing Nato member Turkey through biting US tariffs is also a strong case in point. On a different plain and in a different context, however, the US has been found to be dealing with Pakistan in a highly objectionable manner. It is, for example, trying to turn its non-Nato ally into a scapegoat for the Washington's military's failure in Kabul where it has achieved little or nothing insofar as the future of its strategic interests emanating from the American pivot to Asia is concerned. It is quite interesting to note that the Trump administration seems to have finally found in Prime Minister Imran Khan as someone with whom it can find common ground and begin to work on shared problems together. While on his way to Islamabad, Pompeo, therefore, admitted that the Trump administration had "real expectations" of Pakistan. On the other hand, Pakistan fully recognizes the fact that the US has been showing embarrassment caused by consciousness of its defeat in Afghanistan despite its stay there for over 17 years. That is why it has been showing greater understanding to the US predicament in the landlocked country despite the fact that Washington often refuses to recognize Islamic republic's unmatched sacrifices in the global war on terrorism. The appointment of Zalmay Khalilzad, a former US ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq, as a special envoy to Afghanistan may still be viewed with doubt and suspicion by Pakistan. But there is no denying that Khalilzad has better appreciation of the Afghan situation than the rest in the US State Department, including Secretary of State Pompeo. He will, therefore, be required to act with utmost sincerity to settle the simmering Afghan conundrum. But his mission shall remain unaccomplished until and unless he identifies the real impediments to the resolution of the Afghan issue. Asking New Delhi to stop waging a proxy war against Islamabad from the Afghan soil would lead to the removal of one such hurdle to peace in Afghanistan.
Pakistan has plausible reasons to be mistrustful of the US as the latter has the history of throwing its friends under the bus and reneging on its promises. What it did in the case of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak a few years ago is a strong case in point. Unfortunately, however, the Trump administration has gone a step further as it punishes America's enemies and friends alike. Penalizing Nato member Turkey through biting US tariffs is also a strong case in point. On a different plain and in a different context, however, the US has been found to be dealing with Pakistan in a highly objectionable manner. It is, for example, trying to turn its non-Nato ally into a scapegoat for the Washington's military's failure in Kabul where it has achieved little or nothing insofar as the future of its strategic interests emanating from the American pivot to Asia is concerned. It is quite interesting to note that the Trump administration seems to have finally found in Prime Minister Imran Khan as someone with whom it can find common ground and begin to work on shared problems together. While on his way to Islamabad, Pompeo, therefore, admitted that the Trump administration had "real expectations" of Pakistan. On the other hand, Pakistan fully recognizes the fact that the US has been showing embarrassment caused by consciousness of its defeat in Afghanistan despite its stay there for over 17 years. That is why it has been showing greater understanding to the US predicament in the landlocked country despite the fact that Washington often refuses to recognize Islamic republic's unmatched sacrifices in the global war on terrorism. The appointment of Zalmay Khalilzad, a former US ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq, as a special envoy to Afghanistan may still be viewed with doubt and suspicion by Pakistan. But there is no denying that Khalilzad has better appreciation of the Afghan situation than the rest in the US State Department, including Secretary of State Pompeo. He will, therefore, be required to act with utmost sincerity to settle the simmering Afghan conundrum. But his mission shall remain unaccomplished until and unless he identifies the real impediments to the resolution of the Afghan issue. Asking New Delhi to stop waging a proxy war against Islamabad from the Afghan soil would lead to the removal of one such hurdle to peace in Afghanistan.