The United States of America (USA) cannot seem to give up on its confrontational approach and the desperation to paint one particular player as the one responsible for terrorism in South Asia. President Trump in his recent tweet accused Pakistan of amassing aid form USA and lying to US leaders and providing safe havens to terrorists in Afghanistan, rather than hunting them down. He threatened to stop the aid coming to Pakistan to fight the war on terror. This statement was not taken well by the Pakistani side and rightly so.
With such rash statements and the belligerent reinforcement of the desire to paint Pakistan as the enemy is creating hindrances in the peace process. Countries of the region have realised that the solution lies in cooperation and cordial ties, but the so called greatest nation in the world cannot move beyond its policies of war and enemies. There was a clash of views in Pakistan as well, with one section of the Pakistani establishment and the government clearly wanting to cooperate with the US. However, Trump’s brash remarks have made such cooperation difficult to say the least. The USA’s hostile attitude – reiterated constantly by Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson – warrants a strong response from the government and establishment who cannot be seen to pliant to Washington’s demands; that is precisely what they are getting now.
Pakistan went from the narrative that “it is doing more” to “it will do no more” in the Trump regime. The US needs to realise that their loose cannon of a president is making any Pak-US cooperation impossible. Let us for a moment consider that his statement holds some sort of truth to it, is antagonising a nation the way to go about it? USA’s effort in this time period has been more about finding a scapegoat for their mistakes rather than actually getting the countries to join a collaborative effort. This tweet is a proof of how USA seems to be forgetting the diplomatic route for resolving matters.