Trump seeks to reset ties with Pakistan

–US president writes letter to PM Imran, acknowledges cost of Afghan war, urges Pakistan to play key role in ‘negotiated settlement’ in Afghanistan

–Pakistan welcomes US offer to ‘work together and renew partnership’

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday received a letter from US President Donald Trump seeking Islamabad’s “assistance and facilitation in achieving a negotiated settlement of the Afghan war”.

“President Trump has also acknowledged that the war had cost both USA and Pakistan,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “He has emphasised that Pakistan and USA should explore opportunities to work together and renew partnership.”

The ministry “welcomed” the US decision for negotiations, noting that “Pakistan has always advocated a political settlement to end war in Afghanistan”.

“Pakistan reiterates its commitment to play a facilitation role in good faith,” the FO statement read. “Peace and stability in Afghanistan remains a shared responsibility.”

The PM had also shared the development during a meeting with TV anchors and reporters in Islamabad earlier in the day.

PM Imran further revealed that Trump has asked for Pakistan’s help in “bringing the Taliban leadership to the negotiating table”. He added that he had always believed only dialogue could bring stability in Afghanistan.

EARLIER CONFRONTATION:

The letter from the US president comes after a war of words between the two heads of states in November.

On Nov 19, PM Imran had rejected US President Trump’s remarks against Pakistan, suggesting that Washington should assess its success in Afghanistan instead of making Pakistan a scapegoat for its failures.

While speaking to Fox News, President Trump sought to justify his administration’s decision at the start of 2018 to pull military aid to Pakistan by linking it to al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden being found in Pakistan in 2011.

“They [Pakistan] don’t do a damn thing for us,” the US president had said.

Speaking of the compound in Abbottabad where bin Laden was found in 2011, Trump had said the bin Laden’s had been “living in Pakistan right next to the military academy, everybody in Pakistan knew he was there”.

However, contrary to Trump’s insinuations, former US president Barack Obama had said last year: “We had no evidence that Pakistan was aware of his presence — that is something that we looked at.”

Trump also added that the US used to give Pakistan $1.3 billion a year, but doesn’t anymore. “I ended it because they don’t do anything for us.”

The US president then maintained his allegations against Pakistan by tweeting that Pakistan was one of many countries that took money from the US without giving anything in return.

“We no longer pay Pakistan the $Billions because they would take our money and do nothing for us, Bin Laden being a prime example, Afghanistan being another,” the US president had said in a series of tweets.

Responding to Trump’s statements, Prime Minister Khan had said that Islamabad had decided to “participate in the US War on Terror” although no Pakistani was involved in the 9/11 attacks.

“Pakistan suffered 75,000 casualties in this war and over $123 billion was lost,” he added, of which “US ‘aid’ was a minuscule $20bn”, the premier had said.

In addition to economic losses, PM Khan highlighted the impact of the US war on Pakistan’s tribal areas.

ANALYSTS WEIGH IN:

Despite Pakistan’s positive response, defence analyst General (r) Amjad Shoaib views the letter as a non-starter.

“This is actually another way to ask Pakistan to ‘do more’. Pakistan should be careful in dealing with the US administration as it is another pressure tactic. US actually wants Pakistan to follow its revised South Asia policy, thereby meaning that Pakistan should work under India which is now a US ally in the region,” he said.

When asked to elaborate, the veteran analyst said that the US policy paper last year had identified China as its “adversary” which is now the closest ally of Pakistan.

“Moreover, since Pakistan is key ally of China’s Belt & Road Initiative and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Pakistan would stand by Beijing. On the other hand, India, which is a rival of both Pakistan and China, is now a close US ally. So, there is no common ground between Pakistan and US to work together,” he added.

Asked about Pakistan’s role in the Afghan reconciliation process, Amjad Shoaib said that Afghan Taliban are no more under Pakistan’s influence.

“New regional players like Russia, China and Iran also have an influence over the Afghan Taliban. The presence of ISIS in Afghanistan has forced these three countries to have direct links with Afghan Taliban. They want a stable Afghanistan but they also want US to leave the country,” he added.

He said that US doesn’t need Pakistan for Afghan peace as Zalmay Khalilzad and US officials were directly talking with the Taliban without even informing Pakistan.

“They want Taliban to accept US terms. But these terms are not even acceptable to Russia, Iran and China. So, Pakistan can’t deliver anything anymore,” he added.

Another commentator on military affairs, General (r) Talat Masood believed that the Americans are adopting a multi-pronged approach to help settle Afghanistan.

“The US is talking directly to Taliban but they also want Pakistan to put more pressure on them to help achieve their objectives. The US wants Pakistan to exert pressure by expelling the families of the Taliban and also explore other measures to push the peace process further,” he added.

Gen Talat termed the letter as a good development and said that this reflected how Pakistan can play an important role in the Afghan normalisation strategy.

“The US administration is realising that no significant progress on Afghan peace can be made without Pakistan’s assistance. Every country has its own importance but Pakistan has a very significant role to play in Afghan peace process. In fact, the US want to further push Taliban and use maximum influence,” he concluded.