Pakistan and its antagonized neighbors

In the recent past, I have posted a few blogs highlighting that Pakistan’s tweaked foreign policy is pushing it towards isolation. This morning I sat down once again to look at the map that is attached with this post. It looked like a crystal ball telling me the following:

• Pakistan’s relationships with three of its neighbors having common border are highly strangulated.
• The incumbent government claims enjoying the most cordial relationship with distant friends.
• United States, China and Saudi Arabia have an immense influence on Pakistan’s foreign policy.
• Russia is also entering Pakistan by offering expertise in oil and gas exploration.

A question arises is being subservient to the global and regional super powers yielding any benefit to Pakistan? My immediate and honest reply is a big NO. The reasons are:

• Pakistan has been fighting proxy US war in Afghanistan but also being the worst victim of terrorism.
• Sunni-Shia breach being extended by clerics receiving financial support from outside.  
• The US, despite being one of the largest investors in China, does not approve Pak-China relationship.
• Afghanistan is being used for cross-border infiltration by India and its supported rebel groups.
• CPEC is being made a controversy by the nationalist, more appropriately rebel groups supported by outsiders.
• Pakistan has not been able to establish banking links with Iran over last nine-month after withdrawal of sanctions due to external pressure.
• Pakistan has not been able to accept the Iranian offer to buy electricity and gas officially, despite getting small supplies in areas adjoining border cities.
• Iran-Pakistan broader remaining closed for days in the aftermath of border conflicts.

There has been an uneven distribution of wealth in the country. Rich are getting richer and poor getting poorer. While elites are busy in minting money the poor are busy in making both ends meet. The nation is being fragmented and hate is being spread to push the country into anarchy.

  

Pakistan will not be a bed of roses for Hale

Pakistanis have always welcomed the US Ambassadors in Pakistan with the hope that relationship between the two countries will improve eventually. However, the experience has been contrary as the US mantra of ‘do more’ never ends. This often gives Pakistanis an impression that their country has become subservient to the sole surviving super power.
With the US focus shifting away from Arabian Peninsula to South China Sea, South Asia also seems to have lost its strategic importance. Fanning the differences between India and Pakistan, the two atomic powers of the region is playing with fire. The added problem is Afghanistan, where the governments failing in discharging their duties are prompt in blaming Pakistan.
The designate ambassador David Hale has spent some time in Tunisia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and at the US Mission to the United Nations, with multiple tours in Lebanon and Jordan. In Washington, he has also worked as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israel, Egypt and the Levant, Director for Israel and Palestinian Affairs, and Executive Assistant to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Designate Ambassador replaces Richard Olson in Islamabad and will also have to work with him closely after his appointment as US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Olson assumes this responsibility at a time when the US and its Afghan allies face resurgent militancy in Afghanistan. Both the diplomats are expected to play a key role in the reconciliation process aimed at ending hostilities between the Afghan government and the Afghan Taliban.
One may recall that in the recent past Olson has talked about ending proxy wars. After the ISIS attack on France a question has become too loud, who supports this most brutal outfit? Naturally, fingers are being pointed at CIA and all those countries which are buying crude oil from ISIS. People also fail to understand why this phantom can’t be controlled if many of the super powers are busy in bombing ISIS hide out in Syria and Iraq.
It is also to remind the new Ambassador that in various regions CIA intervenes more in diplomatic issues. Olson’s predecessor Munter, who had been an advocate within the Obama administration for reconciliation with Pakistan, resigned in May 2012. People close to him have said he was frustrated that the CIA and Pentagon taking the lead on Pakistan policy.
Pakistan will not be a bed of roses for Hale as he has to face two of US historical rivals in Pakistan. Both China and Russia are making huge investments in Pakistan. Many Pakistanis have strong feeling that the US has never considered their country an economic partner but used their homeland and armed forces in a proxy war in Afghanistan.
I accept my inadequacy in understanding the US foreign policy but often I am forced to conclude that despite fighting a proxy war in Afghanistan, Pakistan had to hear ‘do more mantra’. Three of its immediate neighbors, India, Afghanistan and Iran are annoyed with Pakistan for towing the US foreign policy agenda blindly. Will the designate Ambassador be able to help Pakistan get its due place in the US foreign policy?