Forget the tweet, keep ties sweet

Situationer

Governments behave like humans for humans run them. That is what our learned teachers taught us decades ago in the globally reputed western schools known for their expertise in international relations, politics and global governance. So should we believe that today the United States thinks and operates as its president does? If it does work that way, God help us all.

Imagine the State Department or the Pentagon waking up long before sunrise on the New Year’s, log on to its Twitter account with half-open eyes and head still spinning due to last evening’s engagements and punch in around 50 words accusing one of their longstanding ally of “lies & deceit” without thinking that the two-and-a-half sentences could ruin the relationship built over decades - a relationship that has seen good days and bad but one that has survived the Cold War strains and War on Terror stresses. The only rejoinder could be – well the words were not written that early in the morning.

It is hard to predict how many of us had imagined seventeen-and-a-half-years ago when Jack Dorsey and friends founded the online social networking service that within a decade over 120 heads of state and government would find time out of their busy schedule to push propaganda to millions of their international followers - to make statements that would prefer fiction to facts. Sadly, that’s the world we live in today.

The re-runs of President Trump’s sentiments about Pakistan from important US officials and the reaction from Islamabad and Rawalpindi were so potent that many believe the relationship between the two capitals is bruised beyond repair. David Hale, the US envoy to Islamabad was summoned by the country’s Foreign Office to explain what struck the realtor-turned-politician on a day that was supposed to be his day off.

Diplomats are trained to duck when thrown difficult queries. So when Alice Wells, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia arrived in Islamabad earlier this week, the story pushed was relations returning to routine. Neither the American nor the Pakistani officials deviated from the officialese. Why would they? Why would the American ambassador admit that he shrugged his shoulders on January 1, when he was hauled to the Foreign Office to explain the reason behind the presidential tweet? One can only imagine the poor soul lifting his hands in despair saying, “How would I know?” The best any diplomat would offer is that “the President tweets and he tweeted”.

Those who interacted with Ambassador Hale and Ms Wells at the Pakistani Foreign Office are reluctant to say what precisely the American ask is. They won’t openly comment on the nature and depth of President Trump’s tirade against Pakistan for “we have never experienced a phenomenon like Trump before”. They are still trying to find out “if Trump has the full picture of what is happening in and around Pakistan.” They think he is shooting in the dark hoping someone is hit in the process.

Observers of US-Pakistan relations remain bewildered why the former now sees its ties with the latter through an Afghanistan or India periscope. Diplomatic shenanigans aside, nothing comes of Washington about Pakistan these days but scolding to do as asked about Afghanistan and about those that the Americans see as the troublemakers. Pakistan has its reasons for dragging feet. Sound bites abound about the American desire to see Pakistan playing a role in bringing the Taliban to the talking table but only after the proverbial Haqqani Network is effectively neutralised. Pakistan would like to see the US as an honest player in the region rather than a supporter of the Indian desires.

Diplomats in Islamabad would not confirm or deny “if tweets do or do not go through the system”. Pakistani diplomats think they need to remain engaged and “level-headed” which “the Americans are not”. They say “we are rational (while) they might be irrational”. They think the aggression seen in the President’s tweet or in the sermons from the Pentagon or Mr Pompeo are nothing new. “We have been there during Salala, Raymond Davis, OBL and Mullen episodes”. They say they “haven’t given up on people (in Washington) and listen less to those in New York (supposedly Ambassador Nikky Haley).”

There is an admission in Islamabad that “we have been expecting too much from others” and that “all is not hunky dory” with the United States. Pakistan today remains “vigilant about India-Israel-US” axis and may be that is why there is increased engagement with China, Russia and Iran.

It is not for diplomats to comment openly why maintaining “normal relations” with outsiders is difficult when relations between the country’s institutions are not normal. How can Pakistan play “normal” with the world when institutions on the same leafy boulevard called the Constitution Avenue seem to be in disarray on matters of national import. It does become difficult to pretend all is good within when the outsides know fully well it is not.

Background briefings are good for cosmetic posturing. Trouble is which briefing one should lend credence to. There are institutions that find it hard to say what they really want to say and there are others that say a lot by just being silent. For some it may be heartening to see a united national tone when engaging with the United States. Others believe a long term balancing act is necessary. President Trump is not trusted by most of his own countrymen and there are many public polls to prove that. Pakistan can only damage its longstanding interests vis-à-vis the United States by overreacting to a flash in the pan.