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Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Epaper

USA’s defeat to Pakistan on Taliban issue

Published : Thursday, 30 September, 2021 at 12:00 AM  Count : 706
Md Zillur Rahaman
Pakistan is one of the few countries that has been maintaining balance with the United States and China for decades. But in the end it was not possible to continue and now it seems that Pakistan's relations with the USA has changed a lot, and Pakistan has joined the China block. And that is what ultimately worked as a boomerang for the USA, and two decades after 9/11, the USA suffered a diplomatic defeat to Pakistan over the Taliban issue.

Basically, Pakistan has been plagued by debt for the last few years. Country's per capita debt has reached to 175000 Pakistani rupees, which is increasing. As of December 31, 2019, according to the latest annual report released by Pakistan's finance ministry and central bank, the country's foreign debt stood at 40.94 trillion Pakistani rupees and in the next 14 months, in February 2021, this figure was 45 trillion rupees. Embarrassed by problems such as political instability, militancy, and growing corruption, this amount of debt has left the Pakistani government in a state of disarray.

Allies in the Middle East have long pressured the government to repay the debt. However, the reason for the disagreement between Pakistan and the USA over Afghanistan is very deep. The then US President George W Bush forced Pakistan to take part in the 2001 US military invasion of Afghanistan. Since 2006, the US administration has accused Pakistan of pursuing a two-pronged policy on cooperation with the USA in Afghanistan. During the two terms of President Barack Obama's presidency, differences between the two countries continued on various issues, and the two countries' differences escalated due to the US invasion of Pakistan's tribal areas.

Pakistan was accusing US of hurting its sovereignty. When Donald Trump came to power, he made all sorts of offensive allegations against Pakistan without any hesitation, which Pakistan considered extremely insulting. As a result, the Islamabad-Washington conflict resurfaced. In 15 years the USA has provided US$ 33 billion in military aid to Pakistan, but the USA has suspended that aid over the Taliban issue.

The reality, however, is that America is caught in the quicksand of the long-running war in Afghanistan. For the USA, there was no alternative but to cooperate with Pakistan in Afghan war. But Pakistan is well aware that the Afghan war is complex issue and difficult for the USA and its allies to get out. Although Pakistan had considerable influence over the Taliban, Pakistan has always denied it. In this situation, if the US ever put pressure, then Pakistan will also use its influence in Afghanistan against Washington.

However, Pakistan once realized that military cooperation with the US was nothing but remorse and humiliation for Islamabad. Because Washington will give importance to Islamabad only as long as Pakistan protects American interests in the region. For the past two decades, Pakistan has not been able to achieve any of its goals despite its full support to the USA. Rather, Donald Trump has given Pakistan the title of mere benefactor and liar, which was extremely insulting to Pakistan.

During Trump administration, the USA was giving more importance to India than Pakistan on Taliban issue, and Trump thought that his remarks on India's role would put severe pressure on Pakistan. But there was no doubt between the US, the Afghan government and Western analysts that Pakistan was secretly cooperating with the Taliban for their strategic interests. The Pakistani government has not been very vocal about the new US threat. Although Pakistan said it will never shelter the Taliban on its soil, it secretly begun providing assistance and training to the Taliban.

China has taken full advantage of the situation and stood by Pakistan. China says the world should acknowledge the role its "eternal friend" has played in countering terrorism. Then came the first tripartite meeting of the foreign ministers of China, Pakistan and Afghanistan. At the meeting, China said it wanted to extend the economic corridor to Afghanistan, even though India had close ties with Afghanistan.

Ever since Donald Trump took over the presidency of the USA, tensions have been building with Islamabad and Washington. Failing to deal with militant groups, the Pentagon reversed its decision to provide US$ 300 million in aid to Pakistan. A further US$ 500 million in aid had already been withdrawn from Pakistan. Debt-ridden Pakistan could not even repay the regular loan instalments. Pakistan repeatedly approached the IMF for a loan. The USA was also monitoring to ensure that Pakistan could not repay China's debt with any money taken from the IMF.

The USA was looking for a way out of Afghanistan. Even after they left, Afghanistan has an inevitable relevance to Pakistan. The location of Afghanistan is very important to Pakistan for geographical reasons. Pakistan has a population of 200 million and is an important member of the OIC. They have similarities in language and culture. There is huge border trade. Pakistan is a nuclear power. Just as Pakistan needs Afghanistan, so does Afghanistan need Pakistan. So it was inevitable for Pakistan to be associated with Afghanistan. Pakistan has used that opportunity against the US by secretly helping the Taliban.

Surprisingly, the Pakistani prime minister has not been able to contain the uproar since the Taliban took control of Kabul. He likened it to breaking the shackles of slavery. Pakistan was not happy at all about the relation between India and the USA. Islamabad has not been able to take on the relationship with ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The US has prolonged Pakistan's economic woes in many ways. Then Pakistan was forced to establish good relations with China. And currently by working with the Taliban the country has gone against the USA. The rise of Taliban is a slap in the face of US military policy-- which caused the diplomatic defeat to Pakistan. It is a great shame and disgrace for America to mark the two decades of 9/11.
The writer is a banker and freelance columnist





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