Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul recently has raised expectations about the viability of the peace process between Kabul and Islamabad while highlighting India’s success in peeling Kabul away from dependency on Pakistan’s ruling elite.
As well, the meeting served to cement US regional policy goals: If realpolitik supplants rigid ideology, then policymakers in Islamabad will need to rethink their approach to China, India and the US while revisiting their Afghanistan strategy.
In April, Pakistani Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua and her Afghan counterpart met to discuss rapprochement between India and Pakistan. This procured a meeting in Kabul where Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, remarked that regions develop as a whole, not individual countries.
This provides political and strategic insight into Pakistan’s regional objectives. Islamabad is reeling domestically, fiscally and socially. Its military establishment isn’t used to securing or mobilizing political support for objectives that remain out of its scope. Islamabad is looking into different alternative approaches to the Durand Line while parrying domestic, bilateral and global challenges.
Pakistan is nearly insolvent and cannot secure long-term funding to address its encirclement by Islamic State, al-Qaeda and others. This is why US President Donald Trump’s Financial Action Task Force (FATF) badly damaged Pakistan, for it exposed a profound fallacy that anchored Pakistan’s security establishment, namely its bilateral relations with China.
Thinking that both China and Saudi Arabia would screen Pakistan from international scrutiny enabled Islamabad’s military leadership to ignore the very socio-political and economic trials that affect both Beijing and Riyadh. Having secured Pakistan’s isolation, the US has placed Pakistan in a dangerously precarious position. Hence the high-level diplomatic meetings in Kabul referenced above.
Islamabad continues to watch New Delhi outmaneuver both the US and China in securing Kabul’s interest in the opening of Chabahar Port. With the port fully operational, Kabul’s dependency on Pakistan is over.
According to Zubair Motiwala, chairman of the Afghan-Pakistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, “India has succeeded in penetrating Kabul, slashing Pakistan’s market share more than 50% in two years.” This only exacerbates what every member of the ruling establishment in Islamabad knows: Pakistan cannot secure its interests in the tribal regions and remains dependent on US drone strikes.
Being seen as incapable of protecting its own territorial integrity grossly exacerbates what the Pakistani deep state cannot acknowledge: domestic fallout from US dependency. Call it the Pakistani paradox.
Islamabad continues to watch as allies become dependent rivals. Team Trump seeks to solicit openly what the Pakistani citadel cannot manage, namely the rough regional politics of civil-military relations in spheres of interest antithetical to Pakistan’s ruling elite, while India shifts its base to a strategic level harnessing Afghan independence.
With the US willing to invest deeper into Afghan connectivity, ignoring Pakistani security interests while watching socio-political pressure build on its western borders, Islamabad must address a horror it has never faced, namely vacant alliances and dwindling security resources.
Here’s the Pakistan paradox that haunts the ruling elite: Having been led by military and security agencies, Islamabad’s Afghan objectives have virtually no room or concern for the very requisite sources needed to win its engagement with multiplying domestic enemies.
Pakistan needs what every credible Western critic of the citadel has exposed, namely a vibrant civil society and polity. Having enjoyed its life and identity as a rentier political economy, Pakistan’s security establishment has become the domain of a deep state divorced from sound allies and secure resources for the long war.
Pakistan is worried about losing billions dollars Afghan matket ????? Pakistan can maintain its border security till end of world,d,nt worry about tribal area,just think about Afghanistan where Mighty NATO is losing ground as for Isis is concern Taliban will deal with them
Lol. the writer must be high, while writing this article.
"This only exacerbates what every member of the ruling establishment in Islamabad knows: Pakistan cannot secure its interests in the tribal regions and remains dependent on US drone strikes.
Being seen as incapable of protecting its own territorial integrity grossly exacerbates what the Pakistani deep state cannot acknowledge: domestic fallout from US dependency. Call it the Pakistani paradox."
Well we are isolated unfortunately, no doubt. Financially, we’re in deep shit, too. Yes, our security establishment is in the process of shifting its (failed) strategies. But I’m really sorry to say, this analysis above is totally misconceived and far from ground reality. Pakistan has already secured its interests in the tribal regions and is not dependent on US drone strikes, at all. Our military establishment has delivered as far as ‘protecting the territorial integrity’ is concerned. We defeated the menace of terrorism from our soil, albeit at the cost of huge sacrificies, both human and financial. This is what we’ve achieved, which unfortunately no other country could.
"Pakistan needs what every credible Western critic of the citadel has exposed, namely a vibrant civil society and polity. Having enjoyed its life and identity as a rentier political economy, Pakistan’s security establishment has become the domain of a deep state divorced from sound allies and secure resources for the long war."
Apart from the fact that we’re not actually divorced from sound allies (China & lately Russia), the rest of the analysis is bitter truth, unfortunately.
keep barking.
Chabahar port and creation of ghost terror group so called Haqqani network by Americans have been blessings in disguise for Pakistanis. Chabahar port, a minute port or more commomly a fishing harbor will divert "Afghan goods" which most consist of smuggled items and drugs which were really economic headaches for Pakistan. Secondly howling and screaming by Americans over ghost terror group the so called Haqqani network "forced" Pakistan to fence its western border which will provide a divine opportunity to Pakistan to curb and eliminate illegal drug trafficking. Now this drug trafficking was main source of financing for CIA for regional and/or global activities so now Americans have to deal with Iran because Chabahar is located in Iran. So American people thank you for helping out Pakistan by your "anti-Pakistan policies. Adios
Personally my apologies I could not catch writer what he needs to conclude, would suggest writing on such issues need a lot of homework that you didn’t.
I would put my point there that Pakistan also wants Afghanistan to rely on itself instead of putting all bullshit on us. we wait for that very moment so we can easily send 4 million Afghan refuges back to Afghanistan. There is no doubt that because of these 4 million refuges and their day on day crossing between two countries we are facing difficulties in security , drug and narcotics control and also bear loss of taxes due to smuggling.
So my question to the writer is lossing a 2 billion trade through chahbhar is of any concern against multibillion trade through Gawador port ? second point do USA has any moral to stay in Afghanistan after having total failure in brining peace after 17 years of stay as the peace was there during Taliban Times??? if it could not restore peace after 17 years why is she there still??? a loser has a lot of stories to justify himself, same is the case with USA right now.
why USA is not paying those expenses that were part of agreement at the start of war and why the fence cost is only beared by Pakistan. War was started against Taliban as part of 9/11 propaganda but still no one alleged responsible for 9/11 is brought to court.?? why??? where are 9/11 responsibles ????
This article is a good example of filling pages with words picked from the dictionary without making any meaningful statements or even sentences. The only things that I could pick from this which is no news and has nothing to do with the military is insolvency of pakistan, cpec and indian dominance on the political front i.e afghanistan, US etc. Non of these departments is under the military (foreign office, economy and infrastructure and trade deals). What a farce. This is actualy a list of failures of the current government. I am astonished that how did the editor even let such rubbish be published.
The writer is US / India centric and watching the region through a long range telescope of US origin….He appear to be naieve of the ground realities …Needs lots of homework on the subject …
The only reason Pakistan survives is because it’s security establishment apparatus is still functional even after facing brutal covert enemy terrorist attacks, do u think the political end in hands of Nawaz sharif and Zardari is the key to save Pakistan…… Ha ha ha
So stupid article to balance Corrupt Afghan Government Decleared by SIGAAR
pakistan can’t get its shit togather, Islamization is biting the un-pureland from within,
Terrorists is the one who doesn’t recognise the international border between Pakistan & Afghanistan and clearly it is Afghanistan who doesn’t recognise the international border & we will fence that border now ! Nuff said
It sanctioned Pakistan when it created nuclear missiles although it was India who invented nuclear weapons before Pakistan. It didn’t upgraded our F-16’s. It didn’t even upgrade our ah-1 cobra helicopters. Lol
And it wouldn’t have given even $17m to Pakistan if it’s forces weren’t there in Afghanistan.
US actually gave nothing to Pakistan for its Security rather than just $17b in 17 years. Why is it giving money to Pakistan when it at the same time it allows Afghanistan to shelter Anti Pakistan Terrorists ? What a terrible allie !
Afghanistan’s dependency on Pakistan is almost over but will Afghanistan take back its people ??
In fact it was never
Chahbahar is not viable after the end of the Iran nuclear deal…
Protecting Khuransi & Hunting Haqqanies will haunt the US strategy in long run
So untruthful…US. veto of Pakistans most wanted khurasani into terror watch list , vindicate that Pak- US strategic Obhectives different.
khKhura