The viceroy is dead. Long live the viceroy. Though Frank Ruggiero, the new US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan isnt expected to last long at his current designation, there has to be continuity in the dialogue between Pakistan and the US. Mr Ruggiero met with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday in the first meeting since the recently-announced US Strategic Review for Afghanistan. Equally importantly, this was also the first time the two met after the infamous WikiLeaks debacle. Perhaps Mr Qureshi would have desisted from a frank heart to heart, not because of Mr. Ruggieros seemingly temporary status but because he wouldnt know what would come back to bite him in case there is another set of leaks.
Of late, the Americans havent been toning things down as far as public diplomacy is concerned. Whether it was Ambassador Cameron Munters tough talk recently, spelling out his countrys entitlement to interfere on account of its huge financial bailouts to Pakistan, or Secretary of State Hillary Clintons statement of disapproval regarding the governments decision to reverse the recent price hike. All this is uncalled for. The decision to reverse the oil price hike was flawed, cheaply populist and myopic but it is perhaps not the American Secretary of States place to say that. Similarly, Mr Munter is well within his rights to marvel at the chutzpah inherent in a state on the dole being churlish about sovereignty but diplomacy calls for certain proprieties and this is unbecoming of seasoned diplomats.
The US diplomatic corps has chosen a rather bad time to be caustic considering it has a lot of spin doctoring to do for the Pakistani media and security establishment. Its show of double standards by being explicitly open for negotiations with the Afghan Taliban all the while insisting for strict military action in Pakistans tribal areas will sit well neither with the liberal elements in the media and public nor the rightist, conservative ones.
