‘US won’t allow anyone to challenge its dominance’

Islamabad : Former Foreign Minister Inam ul Haq has said that the US has no intention of allowing a challenge to its primacy in the world by any country, including China.

Mr Haq was delivering his inaugural address at two-day National Conference on ‘Irritants in Pakistan-US relations: Way Forward’ organised here by Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI).

Mr Haq said that United States will use all means at its disposal to remain the undisputed and sole super power of the world. Full spectrum domination is its primary objective, he said. He opined that foreign policy cannot be based on self-delusion and false assumptions. Foreign policy framers have to be clear, objective, logical, and must factor into policymaking the complex strategic, political and economic development and the constantly emerging new equations he said adding that without an autonomous economy, no country can have an autonomous foreign policy.

He warned that we should note that the discussions have so far been primarily on the end game in Afghanistan and bilateral relations were not discussed at any length. Bilateral ties will improve only if Pakistan is seen to be helping the US achieve its objectives in Afghanistan, he stressed.

Inam-ul-Haq also predicted that the interrupted strategic dialogue between Pakistan and the US, which was initiated during the Obama Administration, is unlikely to be resumed in its original form. We must find alternative ways to move forward on the issues that are of interest to us, such as energy, security, strategic stability, education, science and technology.

He concluded that the US remains the most important relationship for Pakistan since it has the maximum capacity to help the country and also to inflict “pain and damage directly as well as through proxies.”

Ambassador (r) Shamshad Ahmed, ex-Foreign Secretary, argued that unlike other government policies, foreign policy is neither scripted nor has any bullet points, which according to him “is an external reflection of a country’s internal conditions. So if a country is weak and crippled from inside, its foreign policy will not be robust and strong either.’ He reiterated that our geopolitical situation is virtually important for peace in South Asia. He said that Pakistan has not disappeared from the US radar or screen rather looms large for US stakes in Asia. He remarked that no relationship is without problems, and Pakistan-US relationship is no exception. The time has come for focusing on a state-to-state relationship based on sovereign equality, rather than one which is transactional or based on expediency of personal interests and agendas he said and continued that Pakistan needs to realise that what is important is not what we are required to do but what is in our own national interest.

Former Foreign Secretary Riaz Hussain Khokhar said that we should be frank with the Trump administration about what Pakistan can actually deliver in Afghanistan especially in terms of the Taliban because at the end of the day, Pakistan does not have the kind of influence which is often projected. He pointed out that having a “strategic relationship” with the US is out-of-the-window and one should not have high hopes for that since the US has already courted India.

Acting President, IPRI, Brigadier (r) Sohail Tirmizi, Former Defence Secretary Lt General (r) Asif also spoke on the occasion.