Islamabad, Oct 21 (IANS) Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation with a military-dominated civilian government, dependent on International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailouts and aid from Saudi Arabia, meets none of the benchmarks that guide the United States’ approach in Asia. The American strategy seeks to align with Asian states that share interests, values, and stability, a report said on Tuesday
“The Generals in Rawalpindi are masters of playing everyone — China, the US, and the Gulf — for short-term gain. What looks like a ‘new chapter’ in US-Pakistan relations is really another short story in a long anthology of disappointment. Strategic patience, not impulsive deal making, is what Washington needs in South Asia,” a report in ‘One World Outlook’ detailed.
“America’s best bet isn’t a transactional ally in Pakistan — it’s a democratic partner in India, whose long-term alignment will define the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific,” it added.
According to the report, Pakistan’s latest pitch offers a new billion-dollar port at Pasni in Gwadar district of Balochistan on the Arabian Sea, with access to rare earths and critical minerals.
It said that the port, located barely 70 miles from China’s Gwadar installation and a hundred miles from Iran, would serve as an ideal site for Washington to monitor both rivals.
The move is calculated, and Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, knows how to sell by telling US President Donald Trump exactly what he wants to hear.
“Munir’s entourage arrived in Washington this summer armed with talking points and symbolic gifts. After meetings at the White House, viral photos showed him handing Trump a box of rare earths, touting Pakistan’s mineral wealth and its potential role in reducing America’s dependence on China. The proposal for Pasni came next: a US-financed deep-water civilian port and rail links into Balochistan’s mineral belt, labelled a ‘commercial venture’ rather than a strategic installation,” the report stressed
“But nothing Islamabad offers comes free of strings. Pakistan’s real purpose is to pull Washington away from its deepening defence partnership with India — a relationship that underpins America’s wider Indo-Pacific strategy. Each time Washington succumbs to the nostalgia of a ‘special’ role for Pakistan, it ends up eroding trust in the one democratic partner that actually shares its long-term interests,” it noted.
–IANS
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