Pak-US ties to remain uncertain: Rahimullah

ISLAMABAD: Senior Pakistani analyst believes that the US-Pakistan relationship will remain uncertain during Donald Trump’s tenure as the new president of the US will continue to keep more pressure on Pakistan regarding action against the Haqqani network.

 In an interview with a foreign media, Rahimullah Yusufzai said the US assistance to Pakistan has also been linked to action taken by Pakistan against militants of Haqqani network which would be a great challenge for Pakistan to deal with.

“The relationship between Pakistan and the US has already been very uncertain and not friendly because there are acute differences on certain issues and if we believe that Trump will implement what he was saying during the campaign, then there will be some problems between the two countries,” he said.

The analyst said for example Trump has said in an interview that he will secure the release of Dr Shakil Afridi from Pakistan within two minutes after taking over as president and the reason he gave was that US is giving money to Pakistan and Pakistan cannot refuse US demands.

“The issue of Dr Shakil Afridi will continue to overshadow the Pak-US relations, because for the US he is a hero, but in Pakistan he is seen as a traitor,” he noted.

He said even previous US government was not happy with Pakistan for not taking enough action against the Haqqani network in Pakistan and there were demands for doing more so these kinds of demands may increase in future also.

He said Trump in Pakistan is seen very close to India and that could also create problems between the two countries. “We have to wait and see as to how the Trump administration is going to pursue its policies,” he said.

He said, ‘Once Trump decides what needs to be done in Afghanistan, then that will also reflect his policy regarding Pakistan. “If he wants to maintain military presence in Afghanistan and try to fight Al-Qaeda, Daesh, Taliban or whatever then I think there will be more pressure from the US on Pakistan,” he said.

Rahimullah said importance of Pakistan has been decreased for the US in Afghanistan because earlier there were more than 150,000 NATO forces in Afghanistan and the supplies were mostly being done via Pakistan, but the numbers have now gone down to 15,000 so Pakistan’s importance in that way as a supply route has been decreased.

“The US presence in Afghanistan will continue and there will be issues concerning Afghanistan which will actually determine the US relationship with Pakistan. I don’t expect any increase in US drone strikes in Pakistan; there may be occasional strikes on specific targets,” he said.

He added Pakistan is trying to diversify its arm purchases to Russia, Ukraine and China. “Pakistan effort to build bridges to Russia and China is a very essential part of this new triangle of relationship, but this will not be seen with amusement by the US and they will not be happy that Pakistan moving towards Russia and China which are seen as some kind of an adversary by the US,” he said.

The expert said Doland Trump may try to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan, but I don’t think the Indians will allow him to try to play a bigger role on Kashmir and other bilateral issues between India and Pakistan.

He said India has always resisted to any third country pressure on these issues saying these are bilateral issues. “But Pakistan will like the US to become more involved in Pakistan-India relations,” he said.