ISLAMABAD - Controversial US former diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad has made it a habit to blatantly breach diplomatic norms against Pakistan as he targets Pakistan’s political system and institutions like a man on agenda.
Even before his recent controversial tweets, Zalmay Khalilzad was never seen even as a neutral diplomat. His stint as the US special representative on Afghanistan saw him creating more doubts about Pakistan in the west and deteriorating further the situation in Pakistan. The US ultimately had to withdraw from Afghanistan without achieving its goals.
Not long after the US withdrawal, Khalilzad stepped down in October 2021 as the Special Envoy on Afghanistan. His departure followed his exclusion from Joe Biden administration’s first formal talks in Doha with the Taliban after the US pull-out.
In the resignation letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Khalilzad had acknowledged that he came up short. After failures on the Afghan assignment, Zalmay Khalilzad has turned his guns towards Pakistan, giving unsolicited advices on political system and defence.
Commenting on Khalilzad’s ostensible pro-Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf statements, Pakistan Democratic Movement chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman claimed that a former US special representative for Afghanistan held a meeting with PTI cchairman Imran Khan during a recent secret visit to Pakistan.
The PDM leader criticised Zalmay Khalilzad’s statement in which he warned that the arrest of Imran Khan would deepen the crisis being faced by Pakistan.
He said Zalmay Khalilzad supported separatist movements in Pakistan and used to speak against China. “It shows which powers are backing Imran Khan,” he added, suggesting that Khalilzad was working for the former PM.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman reiterated his stance that the PTI chief was working on a foreign agenda, adding that anti-Islam powers wanted anarchy in the country. He said representatives of Jewish community were giving statements in support of the PTI chief.
Imran Khan, who had previously blamed the US after he was ousted from power in April last year, has now allegedly sought the intervention of a US lawmaker amid a government crackdown on PTI.
A purported audio between Imran Khan and US lawmaker Maxine Moore Waters has surfaced on social media.
In the purported audio, the PTI chief is heard asking the US lawmaker to raise her voice against “human rights violations” in Pakistan.
The crackdown on PTI began days after protesters stormed the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi and also torched a corps commander’s house in Lahore over Imran Khan’s dramatic arrest on May 9 in a corruption case.
Diplomatic sources told The Nation that Islamabad had contacted Washington against interference into Pakistan affairs by the controversial former diplomat of the US. Pakistan also urged the US to halt Zalmay Khalilzad’s diatribe.
“The US has been contacted through diplomatic channels to stop Zalmay Khalilzad from giving controversial statements which create a bad taste. The US has already disowned his statements but we will prefer some steps that can stop his tirade,” said a senior Pakistani diplomat.
Another diplomat said Pakistan had urged the US to ask Zalmay Khalilzad not to misuse the freedom of expression to target Pakistan. “We know better what we have to do and will be the last to listen to Zalmay Khalilzad who has been a miserable failure as the US envoy (on Afghanistan),” he added.
Previously, Principal Deputy Spokesperson at the US Department of State Vedant Patel cleared the air about Khalilzad’s statements. “Washington has nothing to do with Zalmay Khalilzad’s statements about Pakistani politics. Khalilzad is a private citizen and does not speak for this administration. His activities on social platforms are done in his private capacity and do not represent US foreign policy in any manner,” Patel said.
Not long ago, Khalilzad retweeted a tweet by President Arif Alvi in which he asked Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif to direct authorities to assist the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in holding timely elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Pakistani Foreign Office had also warned Khalilzad from making himself more controversial. “Pakistan does not need lectures or unsolicited advice from anyone on how to cope with the challenges we face today. As a resilient nation, we will come out stronger from the present difficult situation,” read a foreign ministry statement. Any further statements on Pakistani politics or defence institutions in the future will only establish Khalilzad as a controversial diplomat who is discredited by Afghanistan, the US and Pakistan thanks to his legacy of failures.
