ISLAMABAD - Pakistan will face a number of challenges on the diplomatic front after US President Donald Trump’s insulting tweet against the country.

Following the tweet, Pakistan rushed to its dependable friend, China, and emerging partner, Russia. There were positive responses from China and Russia but the ‘US wound’ may take time to heal.

Senior officials at the foreign ministry said Pakistan was aiming at placating the US instead of annoying it further. “We will respond to their statements but will not say anything that can aggravate the situation,” said a senior official who remains in contact with Washington.

He said Pakistan believed that in year 2018 the country had to face massive diplomatic challenges – ranging from reviving Pak-US ties to retaining the old friends. At the start of the New Year, Trump tweeted: “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe havens to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!”

Pakistan responded by saying Trump’s ‘no more’ mantra was worthless as Islamabad was not prepared to ‘do more.’ There have been a series of meetings since Trump’s negative statement to control the damage.

For years, Islamabad has been struggling to improve ties with Washington and is helplessly watching the US drift to India. At the regional level too, Pakistan faces tension with India, Afghanistan and Iran. The traditional friendly relationship with Saudi Arabia has also been put to test in Pakistan’s fight to hold on to Iran and not coming up to the expectations of Riyadh after the formation of the Islamic Military Alliance.

Not all was lost however, as Pakistan improved ties with Russia and retained China as its closest friend. In the new year, Pakistan remains focused on improving ties with the US, defusing tension with India, removing misunderstandings with Afghanistan and improving the trust level with Iran. Islamabad also aims to appease the Saudi leaders without annoying the Iranians.

Trump has shown clear tilt towards India and does not seem to be getting any friendlier to Pakistan.

Last September, Pakistan’s top diplomats joined heads at an envoys’ conference’ to formulate a new foreign policy. Participants later said the new policy will focus on enhancing defence and trade ties with Russia, while retaining the “all-weather friendship” with China. Improving ties with the US was also a main goal set by the diplomats. Better relationship with Muslim-majority nations to form an unofficial bloc was also among the priorities.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Mohammed Asif said Pakistan was undergoing a “seismic shift” and needed to find the “correct direction” without delay. “We have no time. Pakistan needs to change its direction swiftly. We are undergoing a seismic shift,” he had cautioned after the envoys’ conference.

While Pakistan succeeded in placating Iran and offering goodwill gestures to India, there was no end in sight to Pak-US tension. Ahead of Christmas, President Trump unveiled a new national security strategy, and asked Pakistan to take ‘decisive action’ against the terror network. Trump said the US wanted Pakistan to help Washington fight extremism. The new strategy read: “No partnership can survive a country’s support for militants and terrorists who target a partner’s own service members and officials.”

In August, Trump had announced his policy for Afghanistan and South Asia and accused Islamabad of harbouring terrorists. He also urged India to play a “bigger role” in Afghanistan.

The recent visits of US Defence Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Islamabad were also far from pleasant. They both came with strong messages to ‘do more.’

To add insult to the injury, the US recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel – sending a wave of anger among the Pakistanis. Islamabad raised the issue and tried to unite the Muslim-majority nations against the decision without much support from Saudi Arabia.

After the latest snub from Trump, Pakistan asked the US to stop imposing India’s will on Islamabad and treat Pakistan as a sovereign state. The foreign ministry said the US National Security Strategy 2017 released on December 18 had made certain ‘unsubstantiated allegations against Pakistan, adding : “Pakistan rejects such unfounded accusations that belie facts on ground and trivialize Pakistan’s efforts for fighting terrorism and our unmatched sacrifices to promote peace and stability in the region.”

It said: “Pakistan has long been at the forefront in the fight against regional and global terrorism. It is because of Pakistan’s cooperation with the international community, acknowledged and appreciated by the US leadership, that the Al- Qaeda core was decimated from the region.”

In a troubled neighbourhood, it said, Pakistan continues to suffer at the hands of state-sponsored terrorism, funded and abetted by the neighbours through proxies. “These proxies, consisting of individuals, organizations and intelligence agencies, are working against Pakistan at the behest of regional adversaries. The self-proclaimed guarantors of peace and phony regional powers are pursuing this nefarious game of expansionism to the detriment of regional and global peace. Destabilizing policies and actions by some countries to maintain their hegemony in pursuit of absolute power are responsible for instability in several parts of the world, including ours,” the statement said.

Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua said Pakistan was committed to a peaceful neighbourhood and cooperation with the world. She said due to the opposition by the US, Pakistan was facing discrimination regarding its desired membership of the privileged Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Former Pakistan ambassador to the US Senator Sherry Rehman said Pakistan’s foreign policy had been in a state of strategic drift because of the government being either unfocused or in internal crisis.

“Not having a foreign minister for four years has set the country back egregiously in a competitive international environment, and regaining lost space is not easy for a government distracted by its own political endgame,” she pointed out.

The lawmaker, a former information minister, said it was important to keep faith with Pakistan’s core interests, which should be about positioning itself as a key regional peace-seeker and problem solver, as well as a country committed to geo-economic gains.

“Afghanistan’s stabilization is vital for sustainable prosperity in Pakistan, especially with a multi-pronged strategic threat environment. Pakistan has been blamed for the international community’s failures in Afghanistan, with no real solutions offered by anyone other than a stalemate to conflict there,” she maintained.

As it stands, she said, Pakistan must look to maximise its own gains using its resources better, and protect its population from conflict spillover from fragile borders as well as a terrorist threat within.

“This is no mean feat. Policy should exploit trade and connectivity dividends with neighbors like Iran as well. Islamabad should seek to maintain a balance between Saudi Arabia and Iran as well as other Middle Eastern players instead of getting embroiled in conflict brewing on sectarian faultlines,” she added.

Senator Rehman said Pakistan must invest in greater opportunities with Russia and Turkey, and of course China, which was seeking to bring substantial investment to Pakistan.

“All this must be approached with confidence and a move away from unhelpful binaries, which means relations with the US, our largest trading partner, must not be ignored. Challenges will persist in this often tense bilateral relationship, but an attempt to tell our story better, and to share our scope of priorities and limits will make a difference,” she said.

With India too, she said: “We must always seek to normalise relations but the message must be clear. The current trend in New Delhi to pivot policy on conditions is unhelpful to setting new terms of engagement. As a disputed territory, Kashmir must be supported with a diplomatic surge, and a people-based consensus created for political solutions based on the inalienable right of self-expression and self-determination.”

The former ambassador said, in a world riddled with new unconventional and asymmetric threats, Pakistan must look to promoting peace through dialogue internationally and support for a public articulation of an inclusive political culture at home.

International Affairs expert Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal said the year 2018 will be hectic for Pakistan on the diplomatic front. “We need to expose India’s aggression and its interference in Pakistan. Relations with the US are important but there should be no compromise on the national interest,” he said. Jaspal said Pakistan’s friendship with Russia was improving and “we have a good friend in China.”

Pakistan, he said, needed to have strong ties with the Muslim-majority countries, especially Saudi Arabia and Iran. “We must also be in touch with Afghanistan to resolve the misunderstandings. In 2018 we should come out of the diplomatic problems we faced in 2017. Retaining friends is as important as making new ones,” he said.