ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s most important partner is China rather than theUnited States and Beijing allows Islamabad to exercise an independentforeign policy, an independent political analyst and peace activist inLondon says.
Writer and journalist Adam Garrie said in an interview with Press TV onTuesday that Pakistan also continues to develop good ties with the IslamicRepublic of Iran who now share a common enemy in the form of the UnitedStates.
Garrie made the remarks when asked if Pakistan is responsible for America’sfailure in Afghanistan, and why US President Donald Trump is mad atPakistan.
Trump said in his first tweet of 2018 that Washington had “foolishly givenPakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years.”
“And they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leadersas fools,” wrote the US president on Monday. “They give safe haven to theterrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!”
Pakistan summoned the US ambassador over Trump’s controversial remarks.Ambassador David Hale was summoned to Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry todiscuss Trump’s statement.
During the meeting, Pakistan lodged a strongly-worded protest and asked forclarification of Trump’s comments.
Garrie said, “The only people responsible for America’s failure inAfghanistan are the Americans themselves, who went into Afghanistan in 2001without any real mandate at all. It was a total disaster from thebeginning.”
“They said that they were trying to hunt Bin Laden even though the Talibansaid in 2001 that they would hand Bin Laden over to the United States ifcertain protocols were reached and Pakistani authorities would have almostcertainly cooperated and so the entire premise for the US presence inAfghanistan was forced to begin with and Bin Laden is of course long goneand according to the assassinated former prime minister of Pakistan BenazirBhutto, Bin Laden was dead long before the US admitted that he was,” Garriesaid.
“What’s really going on is that the United States wants the very richminerals that lie below the surface of Afghanistan. It is a very wealthycountry below the surface and because of this America has made it a verypoor country, and a very dangerous country above the surface,” he added.
“What we are seeing though because of America’s foolishness which has beenaugmented by Donald Trump’s so-called troop surge in Afghanistan is that anew alliance for peace is forming in the region. It has been led by theefforts of China, by Russia and by Pakistan and by Iran, all of whom wantthe United Stated gone from Afghanistan and all of whom want to seestability within the region both for security reasons, and of coursebecause economically One Belt One Road, the Chinese trading initiative,will benefit greatly from a smooth roads through Afghanistan which willlink many countries including Tajikistan, Pakistan, Iran and others,” theanalyst noted.
“We could even see the port of Gwadar in Pakistan built by China and theport of Chabahar in Iran link-up as part of a wider transport corridorwithin One Belt One Road,” he stated.
“All of this America knows and all of this America wants to stop, becausethe United States can only exert its bullying power over other countries ifthey’re economically dependent on it. And if such a cooperative initiativewas successful and I have no doubt that it will be, the United States wouldnot be able to leverage concessions through blackmail, from South Asian orEurasian states,” the activist said.
“Now in terms of Trump’s anger with Pakistan, this runs deep because theUnited States has lost its leverage over Pakistan. Now that China isIslamabad’s most important partner, they can afford to tell the UnitedStates what they actually think. Gone are the days of military dictators inIslamabad installed by the United States,” he said.
“Pakistan is slowly reclaiming its country and reclaiming its sovereigntyand this could only be a good thing for the wider region,” he observed.
“Another important development is that Pakistan and Iran are intensifyingpositive relations, which is very good, even though some members of thePakistani press haven’t entirely internalized this reality. Pakistan andIran now have a common enemy and they have always had common and mutualneeds to cooperate for their distinctive mutual win-win advantages,” Garrienoted.