JK News Today Commentary
Jammu, August 06:
Recently in an interview to Financial Times, Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf lamented that the US President Biden has not placed a phone call to premier Imran Khan, but the question is why?
It is surprising that Pakistan that has a wide-ranging influence over Taliban that is marching ahead in Afghanistan with grand ambitions to capture Kabul , and it has already captured large swathes of the territory , should not be talked to at the highest level.This is more important because the US and NATO troops are packing everything to be back home in the earliest available flights for them. The US needs Pakistan to stablise the things , more than any other country. Russia , or for that matter , even China don’t have that kind of clout in Afghanistan that Pakistan has .
It was because of this clout that Washington gave billions of dollars and unaccounted military aid in the past four decades to keep things stable in Afghanistan in two phases – one to push out the Soviet Troops in 1980s, and post 9/11 to fight Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Now the US has developed doubts but Pakistan remains an indispensable evil that is to be tolerated for Washington still wants to keep it in good humour, but within certain limits .
A report on the agony of Afghan people in Financial Times , published on Thursday , quoted Central Asia expert Ahmed Rashid saying : “ Pakistan is pursuing two-prong strategy . On the one hand it is trying to promote peaceful conclusion (of the US personnel), and at the same time it is encouraging the Taliban.”
The newspaper quoted analysts and experts in the region saying that “ Pakistan’s ambiguous role has contributed to frosty relations with Washington ,” and that’s why President Biden has not made a phone call to Prime Minister Imran Khan .
The report read with other reports that have emanated from Afghanistan and Pakistan suggest that Pakistan is actively involved in pushing the cause of Taliban and it has officially claimed that the Taliban is not a terrorist organization . It also clear that Pakistan alone is responsible fir the mess in Afghanistan .
Its help to Washington is almost zero. It has said a categorical no to the military bases to the United States to tame Taliban , it speaks for its intentions and actions to sustain Taliban as a force to reckon with in Afghanistan . It also reinforces the point that it will protect its strategic asset in Afghanistan.
