Pakistan seizes rare chance to reset US ties as Trump turns focus from India to Islamabad

The military conflagrations in Europe and the Middle East, Tel Aviv’s relentless and violent pursuit of the Jewish goal of ‘Greater Israel’, the Sino-US competition verging on confrontation, President Donald Trump’s trade wars, the disillusionment of the European states with the US trans-Atlantic policy, the Indian persistent hostility towards Pakistan have, though, dealt a serious blow to global peace and security but failed to convince Washington for a pause in its support to the blatant genocide in Gaza. Caught in a vortex of uncertainty and unpredictability, the world community feels edgy and is rapidly drifting towards multilateralism in global power politics.

With the welcome of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in Washington, DC last week, and fruitful discussions with the US leadership, Pakistan has lately found ample chances to reset its bilateral relations with the US. The bilateral talks covered a variety of subjects, including investment and cooperation in counterterrorism. The American side showed keen interest in the mines and minerals supposed to be in vast quantities in the two small and volatile provinces of Balochistan and KPK. Since the visit of FM Asim Munir to Washington in June this year, a lot of spadework has been done to include the provincial subject of Mines and Minerals into the federal domain. Punjab and Balochistan Assemblies have already passed the Mines and Minerals Bills, transferring the subject to the Federal Government.

This is meant to facilitate the Federal Government in dealing with the subject of engaging foreign investors.

The Prime Minister’s encounter with Donald Trump, with the presence of FM Asim Munir, was marked by effusive excitement and confident demeanour, with the former doing much of the talking and excessively using his hand and finger gestures to explain himself fully. To an impartial observer, the impression from the encounter could have been that the guests were lavish with the warmth of relations, which has been on the rise since last June. The words of caution about the unpredictability of the man in the White House or the historic transactional nature of our bilateral relations with Washington would not fall on willing ears in this atmospheric excitement and triumphalism exuded by our leaders.

However, this opportunity came our way least because of our sustained diplomatic pursuits but due mainly to the diplomatic and strategic blunders committed by our adversary. Since the BJP under Narendra Modi descended on New Delhi in 2014, India has frozen all contacts with Pakistan. Whenever there was any terrorist attack deep inside its territory or in a land under its illegal occupation, it raised an accusing finger towards Pakistan. Using this smokescreen, India indulged in the killing of Sikh dissidents at home and abroad in countries such as Pakistan, Canada and the USA. These terrorist acts had seriously damaged its bilateral relations with Ottawa and Washington, which had collected extensive documentary evidence before confronting the Indian leaders about these cross-border crimes.

It committed aggression against Pakistan in 2019 and 2025, merely on the assumption that Pakistan was involved in terrorist acts in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The real purpose was to increase the prospects of Modi’s electoral win in the general elections of 2019 and the upcoming Bihar by-elections, pounding Pakistani cities and strategic assets. This irrational move had to be responded to forcefully. Pakistan retaliated, bringing shame and humiliation to itself. Pakistan downed many Indian aircraft and captured alive one Indian pilot in 2019, who was released as a gesture of goodwill. But our friends across the border did not have the grace to acknowledge such a positive gesture and interpreted it as our weakness, fearing their military might.

They have long ago stopped talking to us. The diplomatic relations have not been severed, but Missions remain downgraded and headed by non-Ambassadorial officers. Borders are shut to trade or any commercial exchanges, or transit. They never miss an opportunity to malign Pakistan in regional and international forums, including the UN, SCO, BRICS and G-20, calling it a rogue and irrelevant state. They have weaponised water, cricket and tourism. India suspended the World Bank-supported Indus Water Treaty signed between the two countries in 1962 to share the River waters. This was done after the tragic Pahalgam incident and the three-day military skirmishes in which Indian leaders again suffered humiliation.

The three-day brief war changed the diplomatic fortunes of Pakistan. India fell prey to its own self-importance and false sense of strategic superiority. The brief skirmishes in the sky laid bare its strategic vulnerability. It lost many planes and was forced to seek a ceasefire through the worried President Donald Trump. Pakistan appreciated the role of the US leader in stopping the catastrophic war between the two countries. India didn’t show the grace to acknowledge the mediatory role of President Trump, which angered him greatly. The war exposed the strategic weaknesses of India, making it undependable as a countervail to China. Earlier, the US leaders had taken notice of the Indian role in the adoption of political and economic policies in BRICS prejudicial to the US interests and its continuous purchase of Russian oil, which, according to Washington, fuels the war in Ukraine.

India also adopted a deceptive tough-negotiator’s aura over tariffs and showed a clear tilt to Russia. All this helped turn the gaze of the maverick Donald Trump to Pakistan, first embracing Field Marshal Asim Munir, and now welcoming both the Prime Minister and Field Marshal to the White House.

The significance of the visit could be gauged from the atmospheric circumstances surrounding it Pakistan-Saudi Defence Pact; the Muslim leaders’ Summit with the US President in New York; the expected understanding about the Gaza war, and the likely deployment of a peace force from Muslim countries in Gaza and transfer of self-governance to the PLO excluding Hamas, and the keen interest shown by the US leaders in mines and mineral deposits in Pakistan. Keeping the history of Pak-US relations in view, Pakistan should go cautiously and make commitments after weighing the pros and cons of every decision.