Sitting over here we saw this ‘working visit’ of Imran Khan and the talks between the two countries with as much apprehensions as expectations. But all of it was unprecedented. The demeanour and the body language of Imran Khan was neither timid nor yielding, and the conduct of President Donald Trump indicated a clear-cut and comforting shift in the US policy relating to Pakistan.
Notwithstanding President Trump’s boasting about wiping out Afghanistan from face of the Earth in just 10 days if he wanted to win the war but avoiding it as it would have resulted in the death of 10 million people, America has since long been looking for a ‘respectable’ exit from Afghanistan. The US had desired that Pakistan use its leverage to influence the Taliban to bring them to the negotiating table for a peaceful settlement in the war-torn country. During the last two decades, the military might that the US unleashed in Afghanistan had utterly failed on whatever results the Capitol Hill or the Oval Office thought or planned to achieve. It was an ill-conceived war driven by wrong motives but resulted in strengthening the religio-political militancy, the devastation of a country and claiming lives of thousands of people, including children and women.
However, nothing could be more consoling and satisfying for Pakistan than the US President offering to mediate over the Kashmir conflict. It was a clear departure from the stance the US had taken since long while supporting the Indian position about Kashmir being a bilateral issue. President Trump said that the Indian prime minister had sought his intervention to help resolve the dispute, an assertion that Delhi denied immediately.
There was softening of attitudes on other issues as well. In August 2017, President Trump had stopped $900 million security assistance to Pakistan accusing it of aiding militant groups hostile to the US and Kabul. The US administration had also pushed for Pakistan to be added to the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money-laundering and terror-financing. “I think we have a better relationship with Pakistan right now … all of that (financial assistance) can come back, depending on what we work out,” said President Trump hinting at the possibility of restoring the financial security assistance.
Trump and Imran Khan, cryptically though, also hinted at the resolution of some other sensitive issues. “One of the things we’re going to be discussing too is hostages; perhaps the polio vaccine … But we have a situation in Pakistan where we want to talk about the polio, or the possible polio vaccine.” This polio vaccine was obvious reference to Dr Shakeel Afridi. But in response to another question Trump said, “We’re talking about hostages. We’re talking about hostages being held in various places. We have two to three hostages that we’re talking about.” It was, however, not known who Imran Khan referred to when he quipped, “We will be giving you a good news about the two hostages.”
Published in The Express Tribune, July 24th, 2019.
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