In regards to PTM, here's advice from the God-Father of politics Machiavelli...
When an Inconvenience Has Grown Either in a State or against a State, the More Salutary Policy Is to Temporize with It Rather Than to Strike at It
"As the Roman republic was growing in reputation, strength, and empire, its neighbors, who at first had not thought of how much harm that new republic could bring them, began--but late-- to recognize their error; and wishing to remedy what they had not remedied at first, a good forty peoples conspried against Rome. Hence, among the other usual remedies they made for themselves in urgent dangers, the Roman turned to creating the dictator--- that is, to giving power to one man who could decide without any consultation and execute his decision without any appeal. As that remedy was useful then and was the cause that they overcame the impending dangers, so it was always most useful in all those accidents that arose at any time against the republic in the increasing of the empire.
First to be discussed in regard to that accident is that when an inconvenience that arises either in a republic or against a republic, caused by an intrinsic or extrinsic cause, has become so great that it begins to bring fear to everyone, it is a much more secure police to temporize with it than to attempt to extinguish it. For almost always those who attempt to allay it make its strength greater and accelerate the evil that they suspected from it for themselves. And accidents such as these arise in a republic more often through an intrinsic than an extrinsic cause. Many times a citizen is allowed to gather more strength than is reasonable, or one begins to corrupt a law that is the nerve and the life of a free way of life; and the error is allowed to run so far that it is a more harmful policy to remedy it than to allow it to continue. It is so much the more difficult to recognize these inconveniences when they arise as it appears more natural to men always to favor the beginnings of things; and more than for anything else, such favor can be for works that appear to have some virtue in them and have been done by youths. For if in a republic one sees a noble youth arise who has an extraordinary virtue in him, all eyes of the citizens begin to turn towards him and agree in honoring him without any hesitation (this is Manzoor Pashteen), so that if there is a bit of ambition in him, mixed with the favor that nature gives him and with this accident, he comes at once to a place where the citizens, when they become aware of their error, have few remedies to avoid it. If they try to work as many as they have, they do nothing by accelerate his power.
One could bring up a very many examples of this, but I wish to give only one of them from our city (Florence in late 1400s). Cosimo de' Medici, from whom the house of Medici had the beginning of its greatness in our city, came to such reputation with the favor that his prudence and the ignorance of the other citizens gave him that he began to bring fear to the state, so that the other citizens judged it dangerous to offend him and very dangerous to allow him to remain thus. But living in those times was Niccolo da Uzzano, a man held to be very expert in civil affairs, who had made the first error of not recognizing the dangers that could arise from the reputation of Cosimo. While he lived, he did not ever permit the second to be made--- that is, of attempting to eliminate him--- since he judged that such an attempted would be the entire ruin of their state, as one see it was after his death. For as the citizens who were left did not observe his counsel, they made themselves strong against Cosimo and expelled him from Florence. Hence it came about that his party, resentful because of this injury, recalled him soon after and made him prince of the Republic, to which rank he would never have been able to clim without that manifest opposition.
The same happened in Rome with Caesar; for although that virtue of his was favored by Pompey and by others, the favor soon after was converted to fear. Cicero bears witness to this in saying that Pompey had begun to fear Caesar late. That fear made them think about remedies; and the remedies they made accelerated the ruin of their republic.
I say, thus, that since it is difficult to recognize these evils when they arise--- the difficulty being caused by the fact that things are apt to deceive you in the beginning--- it is a wiser policy to temporize with them after they are recognized than to oppose them; for if one temporizes with them, either they are eliminated by themselves or at least the evil is deferred for a longer time. In all things, princes who plan to cancel them or oppose their strength and thrust should open their eyes, so as not to give them increase instead of decrease, believing that they are pushing a thing back while pulling it along, or indeed that they are drowning a plant by watering it. But they should consider will the strength of the malady, and if you see you have enough to cure it, set yourself at it without hesitation: otherwise let it be and do not attempt it in any mode. For, as was discoursed of above, it will happen as it happened to Rome's neighbors, for whom, since Rome had grown to so much power, it was more salutary to seek to appease it and to hold it back with the modes of peace than to make them think about new orders and new defenses with the modes of war. For that conspiracy of theirs did nothing but make the [the Romans] more united, more vigorous, and make them think about new modes, through which they expanded their power in a briefer time. Among them was the creation of the dictator, a new order through which not only overcame impending dangers but that was the cause of avoiding infinite evils that the republic would have incurred without that remedy." Discourses on Livy (translated by Harvey C. Mansfield & Nathan Tarcov) Chapter 33 page 71, Book I, title
Once the war in Afghanistan comes to an end, at that time extend CPEC into Afghanistan, many will become enriched, and also have the TAPI pipeline built, the aristocrats of Afghanistan and PTM once their interests are tied to Pakistan will have no reason to cause a ruckus, and will wish for many more projects. However, I believe the people at the top understand this, both in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The underlying issue I believe is countering propaganda... This Anti-Afghan and Anti-Pakistan sentiments haven taken root, but not completely, if this is not undone, then it could hinder everything, and that will be disastrous for Islam, our ultimate goal.
