- Implications for Pakistan
Already Rex Tillerson’s twitter sendoff, in typical Trump style, and elevation of CIA Director Mike Pompeo to secretary of state has halted the slide in Brent crude, put the Iran nuclear deal in grave danger, buoyed the Saudi stock in the Middle East’s market of influence and, in all likelihood, thrown all caution to the wind as regards Trump’s position on North Korea. Yet this moves also carries very serious implications for Pakistan that the international, and for that matter local, press has yet to turn to in detail.
He’s been advocating, quite vociferously, Trump’s hard line on Pakistan since even before the president’s famous Jan1 tweet. And with him now heading the state department – taking his place on the table alongside National Security Advisor Lt Gen HR McMaster and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis — all of Trump’s core foreign policy and security advisors champion the same anti-Pakistan, pro-India AfPak strategy that Tillerson, apparently, was too soft on. That means, other things remaining constant, we should expect not just the screws to tighten further on US aid, but also much harsher diplomacy on the matter of the alleged safe havens.
Islamabad, needless to say, is seriously ill-equipped to meet this mounting diplomatic challenge. The foreign ministry has only recently been granted a full-time minister, and the government’s attempt to place an inexperienced political appointee as ambassador in Washington shows how little it appreciates the sensitivity of the moment. The days when Islamabad could simply bury its head in the sand till yet another Afghanistan/US related diplomatic storm blew over are fast coming to an end. And, surprisingly, not much in the government’s posture betrays a realisation of the inevitable. Unless proactive steps are taken immediately, Pakistan will have only itself to blame for further isolation fast headed its way.
