Yes, Pakistan should be worried
President Trump’s cabinet has undergone multiple major shuffles in a little more than a year. His initial picks for crucial foreign affairs and internal security positions like James Mattis, Rex Tillerson and H.R. McMaster were profiled as right-wing hardliners who would help Trump make good on his extreme foreign policy agenda. Apart from Mattis, who has somehow managed to remain on Trump’s good side, the rest have been replaced and both replacements are objectively more hawkish than their predecessors.
Tillerson has been replaced by former CIA chief Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State. As a lawmaker Pompeo advocated military strikes against Iran and supported the rolling back of the Iran nuclear deal. While Tillerson was relatively soft on Pakistan with the ‘yes you have done a lot but do more’ mantra, Pompeo has gone as far as saying that if Pakistan does not eliminate terrorist safe havens from their soil we will do it for them.
Even more worrisome is McMaster’s replacement for National Security Advisor – the warmongering raging ‘Islamophobe’ John Bolton. Bolton was a staunch supporter of the Iraq War while he served as UN ambassador under the Bush administration and still vociferously defends the decision to go there in search of the so-called weapons of mass destruction that never existed. During the recent escalation of tensions between the US and North Korea Bolton opined that legally the US would be well within its rights to strike first against the country. His proclivity towards the use of military force rather than sound diplomacy is further displayed by his suggestion of “bombing Iran to stop Iran”.
Perhaps even more dangerous than Bolton’s world view is his association with anti-Islamic think tanks like the Gatestone Institute of which he is Chairman. Prominent anti-Muslim commentators and conspiracy theorists like Pamela Gellar and Frank Gaffney have welcomed Bolton’s appointment as NSA.
Judging by their profiles, Bolton and Pompeo will be much tougher on Pakistan than their predecessors. Recent diplomatic failures indicate that we are ill-prepared to handle them. Therefore Pakistan has to seriously review and revamp its US foreign policy starting by addressing the allegations of terrorist safe havens in the country to mend ties with America.
