US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s recent visit to South Asian countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, has failed to make a breakthrough in efforts for peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan as the United States continued its hegemonistic approach to impose its policies to solve the sensitive issue, Pakistani analysts said.

Tillerson’s tour had been expected and touted as very crucial to start a process for regional peace as well as Afghanistan’s security situation, but his short stopovers in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and threatening statements against the latter, the oldest and important stakeholder in the issue, disappointed the optimists.

Before stopping in Pakistan for few hours, the US secretary of state’s media talks against Pakistan at the Bagram military base in Afghanistan triggered an anger and disappointment in Pakistani circles, which finally led to a failure in talks between the two sides over bilateral relations, cooperation in the war on terror, and Afghan peace process.

Shireen Mazari, Director General of Strategic Studies Institute Islamabad, said that Tillerson’s visit was proven purposeless as it could not bring any positive outcome regarding its agenda about Afghan issue and campaign against terrorism.

Talking to Xinhua, Mazari said separate statements issued from the two sides at the end of the visit expressed two different stances on the security issue, adding that the outcome of the tour also confirmed that both sides are not on one page and also did not move from their old positions of blaming each other.

The United States continued to stress Pakistan to take action against alleged militant groups present in its territory while Pakistan claimed that it had done enough and had eliminated terrorism from its soil, and it’s now the United States. turn to start operation against terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

Tillerson had a few hours stopover in Pakistan on his way to India on Tuesday afternoon, during which he led a delegation in talks with Pakistan’s top civil and military leaders on multiple issues, focusing on cooperation for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.

Peace lovers and local watchers in Pakistan were hyping the Tillerson’s visit as a great opportunity to restart bilateral cooperation for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, but Tillerson’s statements before and after his Pakistan visit has disappointed optimists and even confused the situation further.

Tillerson’s statement in Afghanistan that the United States will work with Pakistan under the condition whether it takes action against the terrorist groups or not was seriously criticised in Pakistan, and country’s Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani rejected it and said he (Tillerson) is behaving like a viceroy, a higher designation of British rule in the Indian subcontinent.

Not only this, Tillerson also faced a chilly reception on his arrival in Pakistan when only a medium level officer from the country’s foreign ministry welcomed him at the airport.

Later on during a joint press conference along with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi, Tillerson once again blamed Pakistan for its inaction against terrorist organization and reiterated Donald Trump’s call for the country to do more to address a growing problem of terrorism within its borders, which “can lead to a threat to Pakistan’s own stability.”

Rebuffing Tillerson’s statement in India, Professor Saeed Chaudhry, Director of Islamabad Council for International Affairs, suggested to the United States not to worry about Pakistan’s stability but its failure in the 16-year long war in Afghanistan.

Chaudhry believed that Tillerson’s statements against Pakistan, who is a very important stakeholder in Afghan issue, can only amuse a third party India which is one of the United States’ biggest arms buyers, but cannot be helpful to solve the issue.

“The biggest problem with the United States is that it is not ready to listen to any wise and reality-based suggestions which don’t fit its hegemonistic policies,” said Chaudhry.

Giving a policy statement in the country’s Upper House, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said Pakistan is ready to help the United States in Afghanistan, but would not act as anyone’s proxy. “We have neither surrendered nor [do we] take any dictation from the United States, and we will not compromise on our national interest,” he said.

Rejecting Tillerson’s claim of Afghan militant group’s in Pakistan, Asif claimed that the Afghan administration has no control over 45 percent area of the country, which is an ideal safe haven for IS (Islamic State) and other militant groups, adding that in such a situation militants don’t need to come to Pakistan.

The analysts believe that Pakistan seriously wants a quick and long-lasting solution to Afghan issue as it is directly affecting its security and economy, but it is disappointing that the US administration is continuously blaming Pakistan to lessen its baggage of failure in Afghanistan despite the international community and ground facts both confirm Pakistan’s successes against terrorism.

Pakistan has been claiming that it has lost over 70,000 civilians and security personnel in terror attacks and suffered losses of over 100 billion US dollars since it joined the US-led coalition against Afghan Taliban regime following the 9/11 incident in 2001.

Pakistani civil and military officials, analysts and civilians are usually found complaining about the United States for its unappreciative attitude towards the sacrifices made by Pakistan while being a frontline state in the US campaign in Afghanistan.

The analysts believe that it’s in the best interest of both Pakistan and the United States if they move together for Afghan peace process, but they should work with honesty and by developing trust in each other, otherwise more and more problems will be coming ahead.

Political and security analyst Shahzad Chaudhry, Pakistan’s former ambassador to Sri Lanka, said both sides will have to continue talks to search some ways of working.

“Pakistan and the United States have long relations and it should be spoiled, and they should continue their talks without any hegemonistic approach,” said Chaudhry.