Can Trump secure Shakeel Afridi’s release in two minutes as promised?

US president-elect has been extremely critical of Pakistan

PESHAWAR: Can we expect that on January 20, 2017 when Donald John Trump will be administered oath as the 45th President of the United States of America he will order Pakistan to release Dr Shakeel Afridi in two minutes as he promised during his election campaign?

Or this commitment will fall by the wayside when candidate Trump discovers as many US presidents have discovered in the past that he will have to act differently and more reasonably as President Trump.

Many people have been discussing after his surprise victory against Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election whether he will fulfil his commitment to immediately ensure release of Dr Shakeel Afridi.

Trump had declared during his election campaign that he will not waste any time and get freed Dr Shakeel Afridi within two minutes from Pakistan. Asked by the Fox TV how he will do this, he replied: “I would tell them let him out and I’m sure they would let him out.” He added he will leverage US aid to make this happen “because we give a lot of aid to Pakistan. We give a lot of money to Pakistan.”

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had reacted strongly at the time by asserting that the decision to release Dr Shakeel Afridi would be taken by the Pakistani courts and government and not by Trump. He argued that Pakistan is sovereign country and would not take orders from any outsider.

Dr Shakeel Afridi is in jail for helping the US raid Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad in 2011. However, the government has been claiming that he was jailed by a court for secretly helping militants in Khyber Agency.

Dr Shakeel Afridi was jailed in 2012 for 33 years for running a fake vaccination campaign that is believed to have helped the US intelligence agency CIA track down bin Laden, who was killed in the raid in Abbottabad. That sentence was overturned in 2013 and Dr Shakeel Afridi is now in jail awaiting a new trial. He is being held in the Peshawar Central Prison where his cell has maximum protection due to concern that militants jailed in the same jail and those outside it could try to kill him. Also, some people believe that the US forces could try and forcibly secure his release.

Many Americans consider Dr Shakeel Afridi a hero for helping the US to track down bin Laden, but in Pakistan he is largely dismissed as a traitor. Many Pakistanis would like him to complete his jail sentence. Also, the Pakistani state institutions seem to be in no mood to pardon or release Dr Shakeel Afridi.

When approached, Dr Shakeel Afridi’s lawyer Qamar Nadeem Afridi said he has been fighting his case for more than four years in the court to secure his release. “I am convinced that Dr Shakeel Afridi is innocent in the case in which he has been punished. It is a fake case,” he argued. When specifically asked about his reaction in case President Trump put pressure on Pakistan to release Dr Shakeel Afridi, his lawyer said: “I don’t know what method Trump would use to secure his release. I want a proper way for securing release of Dr Shakeel Afridi. I don’t want something that would damage Pakistan-US relations as creating a new issue would be unhelpful at a time when Pakistan is coming out of a crisis and becoming stable.”

Republican Trump, who has been extremely critical of Pakistan in remarks during the divisive election campaign, had also accused it of taking advantage of the US as everyone else. Asked about Afghanistan, Trump said he would keep 10,000 troops in that country in view of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

“I would stay in Afghanistan. It’s probably the one place we should have gone in the Middle East because it’s adjacent and right next to Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons. So I think you have to stay and do the best you can, not that it’s ever going to be great, but I don’t think we have much of a choice.”

It is strange that Trump, who is considered a novice in terms of his grasp over issues of foreign affairs, wants to keep 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan to keep an eye on neighbouring Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and not to defeat al-Qaeda and Islamic State (Daesh), train Afghan forces and stabilise the country as stated by outgoing President Barack Obama and other American officials. One would have to wait and see if this is how President Trump would operate or this was just election campaign rhetoric to seek as many votes as possible and then act responsibly as almost every politician does after winning an election.