US reignites warmth with Pakistan leaving India sulking; New Delhi, Washington need meeting point to

[Kabira]

I understand your point, but you must also see that as Pakistan has become more powerful and self-sufficient over the last 5 years, the americans have had to give us more leeway and concessions which they wouldn't have done in the past.

Yeah about being self sufficient lol till we keep going back to IMF forget about that.

 

[guest9999]

If Pakistan is helping to negotiate peace deal in the neighboring country, it should push to resume coalition support funds as reimbursement for the damage it has caused to the country. it should probably demand more and tie it directly to stability in Afghanistan.

The only thing it should do differently, is not use those funds for military hardware acquisitions as it proves incorrect use of funds. This was one of the main reasons why the funding was cut off.

Rather, it should use that money to develop FATA & Balochistan, enhance connectivity thru out these regions, build schools, trade zones, etc. This will significantly get rid of grievances of the region towards Eastern Pakistan which has traditionally received lion's share of development funding. This will also help reduce terror by improving lives of those in the region, which will hold water in congressional or senate debates. This will secure long-term source of funding and can help build the tribal areas and frontier regions.

Pakistan must not ignore its relationship with US. PTI has a good policy of economic diplomacy, where geopolitical relationships are based on trade. India, China, etc have all based their relationship with the US on trade, it got them a lot further than Pakistan's aid & WoT based relationship. The US-China trade war combined with devalued currency has probably helped to boost Pakistan's exports (quantitatively). It should push for more trade with the US. If larger retail chains like WalMart, Amazon start sourcing from Pakistan, this will improve pro-Pakistan lobbying.

Pakistan runs a trade deficit with China. Smuggled Chinese goods and the inability of Pakistani industry to complete with Chinese industry, powered by the FTA (one of the worst mistakes made), overvalued currency (thanks to PML-N & PPP), and unchecked imports have helped to de-industrialize Pakistan. Pakistan runs a trade surplus with US. Its trade relationship with US is beneficial.

See https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/south-central-asia/pakistan

"The United States is Pakistan’s largest export destination country, while China is Pakistan’s largest import partner. Despite ongoing security and macroeconomic concerns, Pakistan remains an attractive market for U.S. companies due to favorable demographics, English language skills, low labor costs, and natural resources; however, there are real trade and investment barriers that limit the ability of U.S. companies to enter the market and grow their businesses in Pakistan. Overall U.S.-Pakistan trade in 2018 reached a record high of $6.6 billion, an increase of 4 percent from the previous year. U.S. exports to Pakistan increased 4 percent to reach an all-time high of $2.9 billion in 2018. While bilateral trade has remained strong in 2019, Pakistan will need to pursue economic reforms to promote future economic growth. Major U.S. investments are concentrated in fast-moving consumer goods, chemicals, energy, agriculture, out-sourcing, transportation, and communications."

See https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-pakistan/

 

[PAKISTANFOREVER]

Yeah about being self sufficient lol till we keep going back to IMF forget about that.

A temporary blip that is being ironed out.

 

[Imran Khan]

usa learn simply jo pakistan se nhi lar sakty wo china ki jhaant nhi ukhar sakty

 

[Max Pain]

18 Zulu and 32 F-16 block 72 are coming along with other goodies.

aap k mou mai ghee shakkar
but that simply sounds too good to be true

 

[B.K.N]

Yeah about being self sufficient lol till we keep going back to IMF forget about that.

Self sufficiency means adopting to survive without imports or with minimum imports which are extremely necessary

 

[Path-Finder]

the yanks went india mad for almost 2 decades and the two are made for each other. I am just glad Pakistan is moving away from them.

 

[BATMAN]

If Pakistan had decimated Indian airforce on 27th February, today Pakistan's status would have been that of a god.
Good faith has no buyers.

 

[YeBeWarned]

Hoping for positive outcome on all fronts .

 

[doorstar]

Trump's wake up call for India
Ambassador M K BHADRAKUMAR
July 11, 2019 09:45 IST
'From the Indian perspective, Trump's invitation to Imran Khan to visit the White House is a bitter pill to swallow,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi with United States President Donald John Trump meet ahead of the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. Photograph: @MEAIndia/Twitter

The announcement in Washington on Wednesday regarding Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to the United States cannot but be noted as a watershed event in regional politics.

At its most obvious level, the announcement coincides with the news coming out of Doha that the US and Taliban have resolved their differences over the four issues that were discussed through the seven rounds of talks in the Qatari capital -- counterterrorism assurances, troop withdrawal, a ceasefire and intra-Afghan talks.

The Taliban's chief negotiator Abbas Stanekzai told reporters in Doha on Monday, 'We do not have any disagreement with Americans. Only there is the draft (agreement) which needs to be finalised. When it is finalised, we will share it with media.'

The White House announcement on Wednesday signals that a draft peace agreement between the US and the Taliban regarding US troop withdrawal and ceasefire is indeed ready for signature in the near future.

Alongside, the rival Afghan sides have also come up, following the so-called intra-Afghan dialogue in Doha on Monday sponsored by Qatar and Germany and under the watchful eyes of American diplomats, with a 'road map for peace' which aims 'to reduce civilian casualties to zero'.

The US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has left Doha for China en route to Washington. Clearly, Beijing played a key role in the peace talks and the visit of Taliban leader Mullah Baradar to Beijing last month probably became the turning point in the negotiations in Doha.

This underscores once again the growing complexity of the US-China 'rivalry', which we in India blithely tend to overlook at times.

Within six weeks of the Pentagon's Indo-Pacific Strategy Report, making wholesome condemnation of China as a 'revisionist power' that the US is determined to counter on all fronts (in league with partners such as India), we have the curious gesture by Khalilzad to show appreciation to Beijing as an indispensable interlocutor for bringing the 'endless war' in Afghanistan to an end and to create conditions for the orderly withdrawal of US (and NATO) troops from that region.

Indeed, it is an incredible spectacle of how priorities shift in the US diplomacy when its self-interests are involved.

The heart of the matter is that President Trump's invitation to Imran Khan goes way beyond a show of token gratitude for Pakistan's cooperation in making the peace agreement with the Taliban.

Actually, Pakistan has not made any major concessions on its Afghan agenda. It simply facilitated the peace talks by leveraging its influence on the Taliban.

The Pakistani objective of restoring the Taliban to mainstream Afghan politics -- highly likely with a lead role -- and creating 'strategic depth' vis-a-vis India is very much intact.

Make no mistake, the leitmotif of the US-Pakistani rapprochement is that a new regional security paradigm is taking shape. Pakistan is being assigned a pivotal role to ensure that Afghanistan will never again be a 'lab of terrorists' (to use Trump’s words) threatening the Western world.

Pakistan is hugely experienced in handling its relations with the US and it will, of course, make sure that the US reciprocates -- politically, financially, militarily.

If Trump had praised India as the 'critical part' of his unfolding Afghan strategy in August 2017, he is now replacing India with Pakistan in a most curious reversal of roles in South Asia's regional security paradigm.

The White House announcement says explicitly that Imran Khan's visit will 'focus on strengthening cooperation between the United States and Pakistan to bring peace, stability, and economic prosperity to a region that has seen far too much conflict.'

It goes on to say that the US is meeting Pakistan's longstanding demand for a wide-ranging, full-bodied relationship on par with US-Indian relations, 'including counterterrorism, defense, energy, and trade.'

More importantly, in what can only be regarded as a veiled reference to the Kashmir issue and India-Pakistan tensions, the White House says the US will keep in sight 'the goal of creating the conditions for a peaceful South Asia and an enduring partnership between our two countries.'

To be sure, Washington has marginalised India and ignored its sensitivities regarding the Afghan situation by choreographing the post-war scenario in Afghanistan almost exclusively with Pakistan (and China.)

And, yet, the India-US relationship was supposed to be one between 'natural allies' and was described until fairly recently as the 'defining partnership' of the 21st century.

From the Indian perspective, therefore, Trump's invitation to Imran Khan to visit the White House is a bitter pill to swallow.

At best, it can put a brave face on the colossal setback to its regional policies during the past five years, which stubbornly refused to engage Pakistan in dialogue, strove to 'isolate' Pakistan as a State sponsoring terrorism, regarded Afghanistan primarily as a proxy war with Pakistan, refused to regard Taliban as an Afghan entity and fantasised an Indian-American convergence over regional security in regard of Afghanistan.

Clearly, when it comes to Afghanistan, Pakistan is Washington's preferred partner, while India's assigned role will be to serve as a doormat for the US's containment policies against China, bandied about as its 'Indo-Pacific strategy'.

The Indian foreign policy elites owe an explanation as to how this bizarre situation came about. The entrenched Sinophobia in the Indian mindset has clouded rational thinking.

The emerging regional security scenario thoroughly exposes the myths shrouding India's 'defining partnership' with the US and scatters the delusional thinking that what is quintessentially a transactional relationship rests on the bedrock of 'shared values' and 'common concerns' between the two countries.

It was never really an equal relationship based on respect and trust or transparency -- leave alone strategic convergence.

In retrospect, Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi's initiative through the last year-and-a -half to build a warm personal relationship with President Vladimir Putin with a view to revive the India-Russia relationship that was systematically atrophied as a matter of Indian policy during the past decade (with an unspoken agenda to give more ballast to the budding military ties with the US), and to expand and deepen the strategic communication with China following the Wuhan summit with President Xi Jinping with a view to improve India-China relations came not a day too soon.

That providential transition -- for which wide acceptance is still lacking within our strategic community -- significantly enhances India’s capacity today to adjust to the emerging US-Pakistani entente over post-war Afghanistan.

 

[khansaheeb]

Trump just wants to pull Pakistan in to their camp so that we can help them destroy Iran and then they will double cross us again.

 

[war&peace]

My sincere advise to the intolerant bharat is to get into a habit of swallowing the bitter pills because a lot of bitter pills are coming your way.

In fact, you guys are already quite good at it for example Feb 27. Rather you guys are so good that not only you swallow the bitter pill rather you try to tell the world that it was really sweet.

 

[newb3e]

our ugly ex gf needs to move on and stop obsessing about us all the time

 

[!eon]

Trump just wants to pull Pakistan in to their camp so that we can help them destroy Iran and then they will double cross us again.

Who is going to buy US expensive weapons in Gulf if they destroy Iran ?
They are not going to attack Iran. Just show off would continue.

 

[Chakar The Great]

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to the United States cannot but be noted as a watershed event in regional politics, according to a senior Indian expert on foreign affairs.

The announcement, made by Washington earlier this week, coincides with the news coming out of Beijing that Pakistan has joined the US, Russia and China in a call on the Taliban to agree to a ceasefire and negotiations with Kabul.

The four countries “encouraged all parties to take steps to reduce violence leading to a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire that starts with intra-Afghan negotiations,” said a joint statement issued by the United States on Friday.



Pakistan joins US-led call for Afghan ceasefire, talks

MK Bhadrakumar, in his latest column, wrote: “Make no mistake, the leitmotif of US-Pakistani rapprochement is that a new regional security paradigm is taking shape.

“Clearly, Beijing played a key role in the peace talks and the visit of Taliban leader Mullah Baradar to Beijing last month probably became the turning point in the negotiations in Doha. This underscores once again the growing complexity of the US-China ‘rivalry’, which we in India blithely tend to overlook at times.”

Bhadrakumar noted that President Trump’s invitation to Prime Minister Imran goes way beyond a show of token gratitude for Pakistan’s cooperation in making the peace agreement with Taliban. “Actually, Pakistan has not made any major concessions on its Afghan agenda. It simply facilitated the peace talks by leveraging its influence on the Taliban. The Pakistani objective of restoring the Taliban to mainstream Afghan politics — highly likely with a lead role — and creating ‘strategic depth’ vis-a-vis India is very much intact.”

According to the Indian expert, Pakistan is being assigned a pivotal role to ensure that Afghanistan will never again be a ‘lab of terrorists’ (to use Trump’s words) threatening the western world. “Pakistan is hugely experienced in handling its relations with the US and it will of course make sure that the US reciprocates — politically, financially, militarily.

White House confirms Imran-Trump meeting on July 22

“If Trump had praised India as the ‘critical part’ of his unfolding Afghan strategy in August 2017, he is now replacing India with Pakistan in a most curious reversal of roles in South Asia’s regional security paradigm. The White House announcement says explicitly that Imran Khan’s visit will focus on strengthening cooperation between the United States and Pakistan to bring peace, stability, and economic prosperity to a region that has seen far too much conflict.”

He said the US is meeting Pakistan’s longstanding demand for a wide-ranging, full-bodied relationship on par with US-Indian relations, ‘including counterterrorism, defense, energy, and trade.’ More importantly, in what can only be regarded as a veiled reference to the Kashmir issue and India-Pakistan tensions, the White House says that the US will keep in sight ‘the goal of creating the conditions for a peaceful South Asia and an enduring partnership between our two countries.’

“From the Indian perspective, therefore, Trump’s invitation to Imran Khan to visit the White House is a bitter pill to swallow. At best, it can put a brave face on the colossal setback to its regional policies during the past five years, which stubbornly refused to engage Pakistan in dialogue, strove to ‘isolate’ Pakistan as a state sponsoring terrorism, regarded Afghanistan primarily as a proxy war with Pakistan, refused to regard Taliban as an Afghan entity and fantasised an Indian-American convergence over regional security in regard of Afghanistan.

“Clearly, when it comes to Afghanistan, Pakistan is Washington’s preferred partner, while India’s assigned role will be to serve as a doormat for the US’ containment policies against China, bandied about as its ‘Indo-Pacific strategy’. The Indian foreign policy elites owe an explanation as to how this bizarre situation came about. The entrenched Sinophobia in the Indian mindset has clouded rational thinking.

“The emerging regional security scenario thoroughly exposes the myths shrouding India’s ‘defining partnership’ with the US and scatters the delusional thinking that what is quintessentially a transactional relationship rests on the bedrock of ‘shared values’ and ‘common concerns’ between the two countries. It was never really an equal relationship based on respect and trust or transparency — leave alone strategic convergence.”


Source: Express Tribune