Trump has a bad hair day

Friday before last, Donald Trump gathered his military brass known as the ‘wise men’ to pitch for his friend and millionaire Blackwater owner Eric Prince. The plan was to pay him $10 billion a year for his mercenary army to fight the terrorists in Afghanistan. Prince had prepared a presentation for bagging the deal, but last minute, the generals told Prince to beat it. Trump seethed with rage that had earlier reached its peak when he was forced to sack his soul-mate Steve Bannon as his chief strategist. After all, the former editor of Breitbart News served as the “paranoia-inducing, rage channelling, conspiracy-fanning” weaponry to fire up Trump’s base who got him elected. Like a caged animal when let loose, Trump went for the kill.

And the kill that day was Pakistan.

The petulant president trained his guns on Pakistan. “Washington is being ripped off by Islamabad,” he’s quoted saying. As a punishment, America needs to cut off all military aid to Pakistan, was Trump’s “strategy.” This is the same man who as president-elect extolled Pakistanis as “fantastic” and “one of the most intelligent people.” He gushed to then PM Nawaz Sharif that he was “ready and willing to play any role that you [Nawaz Sharif] want me to play to address and find solutions to the outstanding problems.” But the 70-plus president suffers from memory lapses. He also lacks the mental capacity to understand foreign policy; nor has he much appetite for it.

Pakistan is a moving target for American generals. Presently, we are viewed as “duplicitous.” The following Monday, in his speech on Afghanistan Trump wagged a finger at Islamabad for harbouring “criminals and terrorists.” He threatened to cut off aid because “We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting.”

The philistine president and his speech-drafters (US generals) showed a pathetic ignorance of Pakistani values, traditions and our cultural heritage with this sentence: “It is time for Pakistan to demonstrate its commitment to civilization, order and to peace.” To say Pakistan is ‘uncivilised’ is most offensive. Words come cheap out of Trump’s mouth, but they have serious consequences. To label 193 million people of a nuclear-armed nation as barbarians and primitive is the worst diplomatic screw-up ever! He made it worse when he chose to “appreciate India’s important contributions to stability in Afghanistan.” Trump accused Pakistan of ignoring its “commitment to order and to peace,” whereas, he is the one destabilising “order and peace” between India and Pakistan by playing favourites. This is not the ‘Art of the Deal’ but a geo-political pratfall for Trump and his generals.

That said, the arc of American mindset on Pakistan’s support for terrorists is wide-ranging — from the Trump administration to Congress to the media. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Pakistan ‘ripped’ America off its $20-billion military aid to fight terrorism. This is a serious allegation that needs addressing by Pakistani establishment. We must know how, when, where and why $20 billion were spent and by whom. No more holy cows…if politicians are audited, so should our generals. The masonic society appearance of the army has warded off any outside audit of its accounts thus far. Everything is a secret like the Freemasons. The ball is in the court of Army Chief General Bajwa. He has to brief the Americans, even jog their memories on Pakistan’s long war against terrorists; not for them! He needs to show not tell the havoc wreaked by “criminals and terrorists” on our soil. Seeking a ‘shahbash’ certificate from Trump will not work as Gen Bajwa hopes, “We are not looking for any material or financial assistance from USA, but trust, understanding and acknowledgement of our contributions.”

Needed pronto: a more muscular response.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2017.

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