Need to walk a fine line
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson followed by Vice President Mike Pence has thanked Pakistan for its help in the safe recovery of a US-Canadian family from the terrorists. The statements would no doubt create goodwill for the US in Pakistan provided these were not seen to be a part of Washington’s all-too-familiar good cop, bad cop policy. Right on the heels of the statements come the inevitable remarks by US ambassador to UN Nikkey Haley reeking of distrust. Washington, she said, would seek India’s help to keep an eye on Pakistan as it cannot tolerate any government that shelters terrorists and that the US looked forward to India in resolving the Afghan conflict. Haley’s statement is most inappropriate at a time when Pak-US relations are moving towards improvement. Pakistan does not see any role whatsoever for India in resolving the conflict.
Secretary of State Tillerson’s address at the Center for Strategic Studies was designed to set the stage for his visit next week to New Delhi. Both Haley and Tillerson are keen to subdue the wave of criticism that has surfaced in India after what was seen as an about turn by Trump administration on its policy towards Pakistan. Trump is being widely described as unpredictable and capable of multiple about turns. Tillerson took the opportunity to bracket together the US and India as the world’s “two greatest democracies”, while holding China responsible for undermining the so called rules-based international order. The US and India, he said, share a vision of the future and are increasingly global partners with growing strategic convergence. It remains to be seen whether the remarks can change the popular perception of Trump’s unreliability in India.
Tillerson however did well not to directly criticise China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of which CPEC is a part. There is a need on the part of Pakistan to work together with the US and Afghanistan in fighting terrorism while persuading both that India has no role in suppressing the insurgency.