The aftermath of Riyadh Talks
During the last seven months US Ambassador David Hale called thrice on COAS Bajwa. During his two earlier visits the talks centred on regional peace and matters of mutual interest. The latest meeting on Monday had one more item on the agenda. The ambassador, according to the version of the talks issued by the US mission, noted President Donald Trump’s call during his speech at the Arab-Islamic-American Summit for a vision of peace, and unity in conquering extremism and terrorism. In fact President Trump went much beyond these generalities by directly accusing Iran of fuelling “the fires of sectarian conflict and terror” and calling on all Sunni majority countries to isolate Iran internationally. The remarks were aimed at provoking a Shia-Sunny war in the region.
Pakistan is still facing the consequences of America’s misadventure in 1980s which brought gangs of bloodthirsty terrorists collected together from the entire Muslim world by CIA to fight the Soviet army in Afghanistan. These gangs were supplied the terrorist ideology and funds by Saudi Arabia, armaments by the US and training by the ISI. Americans withdrew soon after the Soviet defeat with Pakistan left to hold the baby. What Pakistan got in return was millions of Afghan refugees that it was to host for over a quarter century. Pakistan also inherited from the Afghan war a huge quantity of lethal weapons and well-armed and battle hardened terrorists. Pakistan subsequently lost 70 thousand civilians and more than 6,000 thousand soldiers in its fight against terrorism.
Pakistan’s political and military leadership should tell the US plainly that the country can in no way support Trump’s misconceived plan which will destabilise the Middle East and harm the countries in its neighbourhood. Pakistan must give priority to its national interests which require peace and economic development. Meanwhile Pakistan must fully cooperate with Afghanistan by disallowing any terrorist group from using Pakistan’s soil against Kabul. As the arrests in Karachi indicate ISIS is desperately trying to set up cells in Pakistan. The government and army need to cleanse the country of all terrorist groups without cherry picking.