ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s alliance with the United States seems to be comingtowards an end following the latter’s decision to suspend security aid,Minister of Foreign Affairs Khawaja Asif told the Wall Street Journallink>inan interview late Saturday night.
Asif said he believes the US-Pakistan relations are now at risk, especiallyafter the tensions heightened and moods turned sour when President DonaldTrump warned Islamabad to “do more” against terrorists, to whom, healleged, the country provides safe havens.
“We do not have any alliance [with the US], this is not how allies behave,”the minister told WSJ.
On New Year’s Day, US President Donald Trump tweeted that the US had”foolishly” given Pakistan over $33 billion in aid over the past 15 years,adding that Islamabad gives “safe havens to the terrorists we hunt inAfghanistan, with little help”.[image: an image]
“No more!” he had warned.
Later, on Friday, the US announced it was suspending aid worth $255 millionas well as the transfer of military equipment and security-related funds toIslamabad.
“Today, we can confirm that we are suspending security assistance only toPakistan at this time,” Heather Nauert — the spokesperson for theDepartment of State — disclosed in a press briefing.
The suspension of security assistance to Islamabad came after Washingtonaccused Pakistan of playing a “double game” on fighting terrorism andwarned Islamabad it would have to do more if it wanted to maintain aidwithout interruptions.
The same day, Major General Asif Ghafoor — the Director-General ofInter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) — underscored the suspension wouldimpact the bilateral security cooperation and regional peace.
The “suspension of security assistance will not affect Pakistan’s resolveto fight terrorism; however, it, for sure, will have an impact onPakistan-US security cooperation and efforts towards regional peace,” theArmy spokesman had commented.
Foreign Minister Asif said that the nation had erred when it became a partyin the 2001 US campaign against Afghanistan, calling it a “huge mistake”.
That decision, more than a decade ago, brought about the terroristcounteraction that seeped into Pakistan, creating a problem way bigger thancould have been anticipated.
Still, the US continues to assert that Pakistan harbours terrorists, askingit to “clamp down on sanctuaries used by the two militant groups to planattacks, collect weapons, and allow fighters to recuperate”.
But Islamabad, on the other hand, reiterates itswoes, stating that the UShas overlooked the Pakistan Army’s sacrifices — both in terms of personneland cost — and doesn’t credit its effort in pushing back Al Qaeda.
Further,military’s spokesperson Maj. Gen. Ghafoor said, “We have doneenough and we cannot do any more,” indicating that Pakistani forces arealready fully engaged in border protection and fighting other extremistgroups.[image: an image]
In all, this back-and-forth has complicated the already strained tiesbetween the two nations.
Similar to how an NYT story on Sunday claimed that Trump cannot bear tosever the linkages with its “longtime” ally Pakistanlink> — which could pave way for even betterSino-Pak relations — BMI Research said in its Friday report the US decision“will likely accelerate Pakistan’s geopolitical drift towards China”.
According to the WSJ, a senior official in the Trump administration saidthe American leadership is “angry and dissatisfied” with how Pakistan hasreplied as well as “the continued linkages we see between the Pakistansecurity services and the Haqqani network”.
Asif, who told the publication that the US “had turned Pakistan into a’whipping boy’ for its failures in Afghanistan”, said the situation in thecountry is relatively calm at present.
Asif added that Pakistan has allies inChina, Iran, Russia, and Turkey andis, therefore, “not alone”.