It is risible to hear Pakistan being hailed as a “great partner” of America in the fight against terrorism
The United States has extended an invitation to the Pakistan Army chief, Gen. Asim Munir, to its own Army Day celebrations. Coming as this invite does in the wake of the recent military actions between India and Pakistan in which the general even tried rattling the nuclear sabre, the message is clear. The US will not stop rewarding Pakistan for having done its dirty works in history, as Pakistan’s defence minister had cynically put it while admitting his country’s role in nurturing and sponsoring terrorists.
It is risible to hear Pakistan being hailed as a “great partner” of America in the fight against terrorism. But this only brings out how blinded the US is by its old ties to Pakistan in the region when wars were waged in Afghanistan by Russia and then by itself. That things have changed with Pakistan being squarely in the China axis now seems to have done nothing to change the old American way of aligning with dictatorships and monarchies more than democracies.
The US’s closest allies like the UK, European countries and Japan are also building up their mutual relationships while trying to leave Trump’s idiosyncratic mood swings behind. There is a lesson in all this for India which, far from imagining it can tweak a Modi-Trump bonhomie into a deep trade and strategic alignment, must focus now on resetting its ties on its own terms.
Apparently, the deepening of Quad friendship in the recent past means nothing in the current scenario in which the international order has been seen to be disintegrating and America, busy restructuring its global role, shows little interest in the subcontinent, apart from Trump’s big, beautiful and boastful mediator’s role.
Far from railing against the unfairness of America hyphenating India with Pakistan, India must consider all its options as one of the world’s top five economies and major buyer of defence equipment. If we can do well enough in the conflict with Pakistan with the Russian and Indian air defence shields and multiple missiles from various sources, including domestic, there is little need to toe Trump’s line and buy overpriced American defence equipment.
As the world order changes with every Trump whim, the EU says it is negotiating with all others and not isolating anyone. India might see a path in this as its trusted strategic neutrality has served it well enough. An “America-India bhai bhai” can wait. The G-7 meeting where India’s Prime Minister will be meeting world leaders may be a good time for India to start recalibrating its relationships.
