Pakistan has a blend of measured and hardline in response to sharply escalating US pressure on it to do more in its assistance to help stabilize Afghanistan. Washington wants Islamabad to take a decisive action against Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network, who it believes, are provided safe havens in the country. Ever since the US President Donald Trumps new year day tweet accused Pakistan of giving US lies and deceit in return for 33 billion dollars in aid, the ties between the two estranged allies have been in a freefall. Trumps dramatic tweet hasnt been an idle threat. The US has since frozen most military aid to Pakistan. Though the US has declined to specify the exact amount of funds it will cut off, but the suspension could freeze up to $1.3 billion in aid. The move has angered Pakistan no end. Its Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif has said that the two countries were no longer allies and that the US had turned Islamabad into a whipping boy for its own failures in Afghanistan.
But the US this time is in no mood to listen and Islamabad seems in no mood to relent. The country seeks accommodation of its security interests before it extends its support to new US policy. This also includes limiting Indian influence and penetration in Afghanistan. The two countries thus will have to work out some kind of a trade-off to again start collaborating in the war.
US will also need to make some subtle adjustment in its Afghanistan policy to make it work. In its current shape, the policy almost entirely neglects the regional geo-politics, prevailing issues and the contending interests of the neighbouring countries which essentially keep the conflict going in the war-torn country. So rather than an Afghanistan-centric policy, US needs a broader regional approach to work for an integrated solution to the conflicts and the competing interests that in turn fuel the war in Kabul. But it hasnt done so. Trump, on the contrary, has gone against the objective assessments of the situation and arrived at a self-interested and subjective idea of solution which is certain to aggravate not only the conflict in Afghanistan but also the regional rivalries, especially the one between India and Pakistan.
Trumps new policy hardly takes on board the regional complexity, with each neighbouring country looking to secure their respective interest rather than working together for a solution. The only way that this destabilizing situation can be effectively tackled is for the regional powers including India and Pakistan to cooperate and find a comprehensive solution. And for such a solution to materialize it has to first address the core concerns of the neighbouring countries and take care of their respective interests.
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