There are three major areas where Pakistan has defaulted that has led to very lame "cry victimism" Come New Year and President Trump is at his Tweeting Worst. Trump Tweets have assumed a legendary status. Tweets are not really the ideal vehicle for announcing policy decisions that can have long term impact on not only the future of countries/regions but the whole world. However President Trump tweeted his way to enter the White House against all predictions and thus firmly believes that if you can tweet it, you can do it. His first tweet of the year 2018 has created ripples in Pakistan as it categorically classifies the country as a liar, deceiver and harbourer of safe havens for terrorists. It also condemns American policymakers who have been "fooled" by this "deception" and have doled out $33 billion in aid in the last fifteen years. The last two words of the tweet are his favourite- "No More".
Is this really a shock for Pakistan? No The Trump administration has been very vocal about their displeasure with Pakistan vis-a-vis their pleasure with India. Last year when President Trump made that famous visit to Saudi Arabia the optics and speeches on the American/ Saudi Conference said it all. A few days before this "Unhappy" New Year tweet by Trump US. Vice President Mike Pence, during his visit to Afghanistan, had an equally prickly message for Pakistan. He accused Pakistan of providing safe havens to terrorists operating in Afghanistan, and said that "President Trump has put Pakistan on notice" and "those days are over" when Islamabad can provide sanctuaries to militants in the country.
The whole focus of this hardline posturing by Americans is that paymasters determine the job description and consequently evaluate performance of their subordinates based on it. The only difference is that previously it was more subtle and covert, packaged under "peace and security" agendas, issued in press statements with implied warnings, and presently it is plain talking by the likes of Nikki Haley as a follow-up of the harsh ultimatums of Trump's tweets. A classic example of this was the UN General Assembly session on Trump's declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. According to a report in a UK publication, Guardian, Nikki Haley wrote to UN members and warned them of the consequences of voting against US stance. Referring to Haley's letter Trump said: "I like the message that Nikki sent yesterday at the United Nations. Our great citizens who love this country are tired of this country being taken advantage of - we're not going to be taken advantage of any longer." In her letter, Haley wrote: "As you consider your vote, I encourage you to know the president and the US take this vote personally". She of course, had warned United Nations that they will cut its funding if it was supporting American policy opponents.
This is the New Year message to the World. Be aligned to "Trump values" or be ready for a penalty. This is a dangerous message given that not just financial, political but historical and religious sentiments are involved. This is a classic recipe for reaction, resentment that is a fertile ground for terrorists to breed on. In Pakistan's case the first response by the government has been to condemn and refute Trump's claim giving $33 billion by countering it with figures of over 60000 people losing their lives while Pakistan losing $120 billion in the process. There will be more condemnation and counter facts coming to support Pakistan's narrative of being the victim party. But is that enough?
However, If the US is being questioned on why to continue for 15 years the foolishness of giving aid to a country that was not fighting but supporting terror, the same question applies to Pakistan on why continue being bashed by US despite losing 300% more than the aid given along with losing thousands of Pakistanis' lives in the process? This itself implies 15 years of failure of foreign policy and international relations. That is where Pakistan needs to put its house in order as in a world that is more loud, communicated, heard, shared, seen, analyzed, debated, projected, propagated, how come these shocking facts that Pakistan is stating are not resonating in either the power circles of global politics or the social circles of the opinion makers around the world?
The following are the reasons behind our foreign policy:
The first reason- a directionless foreign policy. General Zia's disastrous involvement in Afghan war for dollars never taught a lesson to our governments. General Musharraf followed suit justifying becoming an ally of US in war on terror after 9/11 by saying it was not money but threat of putting Pakistan back to stone age by America which made him participate in the war. Whatever the motive, a foreign policy based on greed or fear will always be counterproductive. And it has been. Terrorism in Pakistan actually started after 9/11 and democratic governments have been part and parcel of this mindless support in return for financial aid. That has been the pattern till date. The fact that we did not have a foreign minister for the last four years and the Prime Minister did not announce a clear foreign policy is just beyond comprehension.
There was no road map for international relations either within the region or outside it. This resulted in the worst regional conflicts in the history of our country. India already aggressive took advantage of this vacuum and entrenched themselves in Afghanistan, improved its relations with Iran and started developing connections in China. This resulted in regional isolation for Pakistan where Afghanistan with the help of US and India has conveniently blamed Pakistan for the failure of the Afghan War and the continued terror attacks.
Secondly, there is failure of Pakistan to highlight either its role, sacrifices in the War on Terror or to build up a case against India and Afghanistan for sponsoring terrorism in Balochistan and KP. The fact that we caught Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian spy and his confession on sponsoring Balochistan is a major coup. However due to the Prime Minister's reticent to push this case on international forums for almost two years, this critical evidence and opportunity was totally lost especially during 2015 and 2016 interactions at the UN General Assembly sessions. What was needed was a separate strategic international communication unit that would work with reputable political propaganda firms to develop a penetrative communication plan to project the sacrifices given by Pakistan and the duplicity displayed by India and Afghanistan.
(To be concluded in Part-II of the article)(The writer can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com)