The New Year began with a bombshell of a tweet from US President Donald Trump calling out Pakistan for benefitting from billions of dollars in American aid and yet not helping in the fight against terrorists.
Trump tweeted that “Pakistan has been taking the US for a ride. The US has given 33 billion dollars since 2002 and got nothing in return. No More.” It took everyone by surprise because this sort of blunt language is never used in diplomacy. The world is still only just getting used to the American President’s rather brusque ways of doing diplomacy.
Here in India, both folks within the government and academics have been welcoming this as a huge success for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s diplomacy and his new found friendship with Trump.
But here are four reasons why India needs to be skeptical about the mismatch between Trump’s words and his deeds.
TRUMP STILL MAKES A DISTINCTION BETWEEN HAQQANIS AND LASKHAR/JAISH
Even the latest tweet makes it clear that the US President is only interested in the Haqqani Network and Taliban, groups that target American soldiers and interests in Afghanistan. Back in October too, when the US Congress delinked LeT from Haqqanis in the National Defence Authorization Bill, other than a few murmurs in South Block and the Indian press, the outcome was the same: For America, Haqqanis are high-value targets. Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar are just incidental.
THIS WILL FURTHER DRIVE PAKISTAN INTO CHINA’S EMBRACE
Already the Chinese are investing 50 billion dollars in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. The Coalition Support Funds which Trump is seeking to block is just a mere 255 million dollars, a drop in the ocean compared to the amount China is investing. The Chinese will only be more than happy to move in and fill the vacuum that is being created by the exit of the US. Already, China is a part of the six-party dialogue process with the Taliban in Afghanistan. China is the largest investor and importer of Iranian oil and gas. This entire region could soon become an extended Chinese fiefdom and that could have disastrous consequences for India.
AMOUNT OF US AID HAS BEEN FALLING CONSISTENTLY
There was a time when the US, right after 9/11, during the Bush and Musharraf years, used to give Pakistan over 2 billion dollars in total aid every single year. It spiked to almost 4-and-a-half-billion in 2010. But in the years post the killing of Osama Bin Laden, US aid, particularly military aid, has fallen consistently. Truth is this money will not hurt Pakistan as much as it used to in the early years of the war on terror.
TRUMP’S TWEETS/WORDS SPEAK LOUDER THAN ACTION
Back in August when Trump unveiled his new AfPak policy, he made all the right noises, putting Pakistan on notice. For a period, there was even a deep freeze in ties between Islamabad and Washington. But suddenly in October, after the rescue of an American couple who were held hostage by the Haqqanis, Trump was effusive in his praise for the Pakistani leadership. Problem with Trump is, his policies are decided in tweets, and that’s a lousy way of making policy.
Comments
0 comment