A tale of two allies

On the international front, Pakistan has received two pieces of good news. First, the Biden Administration has approved Masood Khan as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US. Second, Prime Minister Imran Khan has returned from his successful visit to Beijing after conducting bilateral meetings. Now spokespersons of the PTI government are jubilantly sharing these ‘conquest stories’.

The IMF has also issued a public statement on Pakistan, giving a window on the tough terms it imposed for its financial package. This also highlights the poor negotiating skills of Pakistani negotiators.

Our hostile neighbour India, through its effective lobby in the US, tried to create an issue against Masood Khan out of a routine matter, but it didn’t succeed. Every ambassador is assigned to other countries with the sole declared mission of projecting and protecting his/her country’s interests. Almost all diplomats of the 193 nations on the globe are closely connected to their national security agencies.

America’s CIA, Russia’s KGB, India’s RAW, and their other national intelligence and security agencies are somehow connected with their diplomats abroad and international organisations. Masood is not the only diplomat linked with his country’s national security agencies. This universal practical reality is known to all. The issue of declaring some diplomats as ‘persona non-grata’ is mostly a political action taken when tensions arise between two countries for some reasons or a foreign diplomat is caught red-handed by the host country’s agencies. Pakistan and India, Russia, and the US, and a few other countries have a record of such actions. Thus, objections raised by some quarters over Masood Khan’s assignment to Washington were only for limited use and purpose.

In the context of tough terms in the current IMF financial package for Pakistan, one can raise more serious questions about Gita Gopinath, the former deputy managing director and the incumbent chief economist of the IMF. Born, raised, and educated in India and married to an Indian civil servant, Gita Gopinath has a record of meetings with and taking an award from India’s Narendra Modi. The US had denied a visa to Modi for his involvement in the massacre of Muslims in Gujrat when he was the chief minister of the province.

Despite political manoeuvrings and some biased actions in the working of international organisations, multinational working staff and global diplomacy, these institutions continue to work for global cooperation. Masood Khan has already served his country as a diplomat in Washington, at the UN in New York, in Geneva, and in various capitals including Beijing.

Another positive development in the country’s diplomatic front is Prime Minister Imran Khan’s China visit. Pakistan-China relations are the legacy of the past governments and are built over decades. Pakistan provided a safe and secret passage and aircraft to Dr Kissinger – the then US secretary of state – for his travel to China and meeting with Mao Tse-tung. Pakistan was the bridge between the US and China. But PM Imran Khan’s recent statement on offering Pakistan’s good offices to make the US-China relationship better is unreal and untimely.

Today’s China has grown into a global superpower in terms of economy, defence and technology. Both countries – the US and China – have their diplomatic and backdoor channels to sort out their contending issues. The PTI government is dealing with a weak and fractured economy and has made the country captive to the IMF’s tough terms for the loan of a few billion dollars. Our foreign policy is still looking for a direction between the US and China. There is a marked difference between balance and confusion. Islamabad’s foreign policy is still confused and directionless. It is based on daily statements of success and what the country tells the world – not what the world is saying to us.

China has reservations about the slowdown of work on CPEC projects during the PTI government in Pakistan and is aware of the reasons for the delays. The country has completed many sizeable projects in various African countries. The total size and volume of these projects are more than those decided under CPEC.

US-Pakistan relations have drastically changed under the influence of a change in US priorities in South Asia. Claims that the two former allies enjoy close relations are exaggerated. One should analyse the realities on the ground that have led to a change in the relationship with changing times.

President Biden has his own opinion on Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has visited Pakistan and Afghanistan a few times as the chairperson of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as vice-president. He is quite knowledgeable about the various aspects of the 20-year-long Afghan war. The US withdrawal from Afghanistan had its fallout. The India-US alliance has also affected Pakistan-US relations under the Biden Administration. US-China tensions and the geopolitical goals of the US-India alliance are some of the key factors that have affected Pakistan, which is perceived to be an ally of China.

The cordiality of Pentagon-GHQ links through backdoor channels has a long history. Still, this channel and cordiality are operational, but the State Department’s view has been a dominant factor in the US policy towards Pakistan. Now, with the changed US priorities, Pakistan-US relations have some changes in their content and directions.

Pakistani leaders should face the reality instead of claiming cordiality and offering to mediate between the two superpowers the US and China. They should let Masood Khan use his diplomatic skills to bridge the gap and bring the two countries closer. Pakistani and Kashmiri communities in the US are eager to see the performance of a Kashmir-origin diplomat.

The writer is a journalist based in the US.