A blueprint for future ties

The slight uptick in Pakistan-US relations caused by the Pakistan Army’s rescue of a Canadian-American couple and their children who were being held by the Haqqani Network continued  on Wednesday  with the US voicing support for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. A US State Department spokesperson praised the transport and energy projects that are part of CPEC and broadly came out in favour expanded economic connectivity in the region. This statement is in stark contrast to the testimony given by US Defence Secretary James Mattis to Congress earlier this month, where he was critical of the One Belt, One Road initiative for running through what he called was ‘disputed territory’. Mattis was referring to Gilgit-Baltistan and seemed to be setting an anti-Pakistan and anti-China policy for the Trump administration. While the US has belatedly realised that it still needs Pakistan to help deal with the problem of militancy, it is unlikely to soften its harsh tone towards China. For the US, One Belt, One Road and similar Chinese measures are a direct threat to its global hegemony. It might have to tolerate China’s growing influence in Pakistan but it will be actively trying to stymie it elsewhere.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson laid out one way in which the US will counter China in a speech  on Wednesday. With Tillerson due to visit Delhi next week, he played up his country’s alliance with India, calling it and the US the world’s “two greatest democracies”. He contrasted India with China, a country he claims is undermining the rules-based international order. Beneath the sanctimony, there seems to be a genuine fear in the US that it could soon be overtaken by China. The US shift towards India obviously comes at a cost to Pakistan, which is why it is notable that Tillerson’s only mention of Pakistan in the speech was to urge the country to take decisive action against militant groups. As the reality of the politics of the region set in, the US was forced to work with us. The Trump administration realised it needed Pakistan – both to defeat militancy here and help bring about an end to the Afghan war. But acknowledgement of this reality does not means American priorities have changed. The US will try and undermine China’s influence at any turn. The American tilt towards India, for both strategic and economic ends, means we should also not rely completely on the US. Relations between Pakistan and the US have been gradually back-sliding for years. The difference now is that both countries are relatively open about the nature of this relationship. That at least provides a blueprint for ties going forward.