Any positive response from the US is still awaited although Pakistan did convey to Biden administration’s top visiting diplomat recently that it wants a “broad-based, long-term, and sustainable relationship anchored in economic cooperation, regional connectivity and peace in the region, through a regular and structured dialogue process for promoting common interests and advancing shared regional objectives”. The reason behind the White House’s reluctance to come clean on Afghanistan or the Taliban is the fact that it has realized that the new rulers of this landlocked country have shaken its self-assured hubris. The US is struggling, albeit unsuccessfully, to overcome the pain the feeling of humiliation has caused by the consciousness of its wrong policies in Afghanistan, the Middle East and North Africa.

Akram Khan (Islamabad)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021