Pakistan is in a great confusion as the invitation of Biden’s Democracy summit lands in Islamabad. If Pakistan accepts, it will start distancing itself from China. If Pakistan rejects this invitation letter, it will make Biden unhappy and unstable Pak-US relations will be worse in the coming days. China and Russia are not invited to this summit of President Biden. Moreover, the US has invited Taiwan to this summit which has made China furious.
China and Russia are of the view that this summit is absolutely against them and they seem right in their opinion. President Biden stated in his inaugural speech that the US would reassure and strengthen the relations with old allies. He stated the same in his first visit to the US State Department. Now this summit is proof of what he said earlier. China and Russia are saying this summit is all about further division of the political world and strengthening the US itself. If this summit is against China, it means it is indirectly against all allies of China, including Pakistan. A political attack on Chinese investments will harm OBOR and definitely it will harm CPEC.
So Biden’s summit is indirectly against Pakistan too. Now, Pakistan has to take this tough decision to go to Biden’s summit or deny it. Pakistan’s denial will surely create hurdles for Pakistan in FATF, IMF, UNHRC and other international political tools. Pak’s Foreign Office has confirmed the invitation of this summit but it says no decision has been taken yet. The Chinese foreign minister calls this summit a trap.
The Biden administration has made clear from day one that strengthening democracy in the United States and around the world is important to deliver for the American people?and fighting today’s challenges. On December 9-10, 2021, President Biden will host the first Summit?for Democracy, which will bring together leaders from?government, civil society, and private sector to set an agenda for democratic renewal and to tackle the greatest threats faced by democracies today through collective effort.
Uncertain and unpredictable relations between the United States and Pakistan are not going to be normalised soon. Interestingly, both the important countries are not trying to normalise and end the tension any soon. The United States is ignoring Pakistan after Biden came into White House. They didn’t call the Prime Minister Khan as well as they never gave any good sign to normalise the relations. Same we are seeing in Islamabad. There is no authentic news or sign that Islamabad is willing to normalise or to make cordial relations with Washington.
Few months back, the national security advisor to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr Moeed Yusuf was asked about the call of Joe Biden to Imran Khan. He said if Washington is not willing to call then they should know that nobody in Islamabad is waiting for them. Biden is still ignoring as well as some of his key team members. Biden’s first ever Special Envoy for Climate Change, John Kerry, visited Bangladesh and India but ignored a stopover in Pakistan. Similarly, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited India and Afghanistan in March but opted not to land in Pakistan. Further, Biden did not invite Khan to his government’s first virtual summit on climate change held on April 22-23.
The US president invited 40 heads of state and government including leaders of India, Bangladesh and Bhutan from the South Asian region, but sent a belated invitation to Khan’s special assistant on climate change.
The reason behind this seems that Washington thinks Islamabad is securing China and Russia’s agendas at the expense of US interests in Afghanistan. The US also thinks that Pakistan played on both sides during the last 20 years in Afghanistan.
On the other hand, Pakistan thinks that it sacrificed most lives and infrastructure in the American war in Afghanistan but it got nothing from the US except blames, orders to do more and threats. This mistrust and misunderstanding are still the biggest hurdle in normalising the relations of the US and Pakistan.
Obviously, the summit is completely a political tool and it will be used just for the sake of politics. By side-lining Pakistan in climate, economy, security and democracy; Biden administration is doing nothing but increasing the anger and frustration of Pakistan. PM Khan is a man of dignity and integrity. If it is a matter of egos between the White House and PM office of Pakistan, Mr Khan will never surrender.
There is a huge criticism of the Biden administration for not taking social activists of the US on board. They say that this summit of Biden will be just an ambiguous show of ideas and formulas. Officials are not ready to give reasonable space to activists’ ideas in the democratic summit of Biden. If invited, Pakistan will not get much out of this summit. Biden’s administration is in the mood to use every bit of this great gathering in their interests. The summit is just a week away. We will see what new and constructive things come as a result of this huge activity.
–The writer is a freelance journalist. He tweets @UmerInamPk