New Delhi: In what many are calling a masterclass in diplomatic manipulation, Pakistan’s Chief of Military Employees Discipline Marshal Asim Munir returned from the USA with a basket of concessions that critics say not solely embolden Islamabad’s anti-India agenda but additionally expose America’s harmful willingness to miss onerous truths for short-term geopolitical good points.
Cloaked within the language of “bilateral cooperation”, the go to has delivered a collection of outcomes that tilt closely in Pakistan’s favour.
Munir secured a renewed U.S.-Pakistan defence cooperation framework, which successfully unlocks navy coaching programmes, expertise sharing and tools upkeep offers that would bolster Pakistan’s navy capabilities at a time when its generals proceed to gasoline instability within the area.
Washington reportedly promised a softening of Worldwide Financial Fund (IMF) conditionalities for Pakistan’s subsequent mortgage tranche, a transfer critics say rewards monetary mismanagement and encourages dependency on exterior bailouts. The USA push on the IMF additionally got here with none clear accountability mechanism for Pakistan’s military-led financial blunders.
Intelligence-sharing preparations have been expanded beneath the pretext of “counterterrorism coordination”, doubtlessly giving Pakistan leverage to filter or manipulate intelligence flows in ways in which go well with its regional ambitions. This growth comes regardless of many years of proof linking Pakistan’s deep state to the very terrorist networks it claims to fight.
Munir seems to have satisfied the Donald Trump-led administration to step again from urgent Pakistan on its human rights violations, particularly the navy’s crackdown on political opponents and its stifling of dissent in Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Maybe most alarming, the USA has signalled help for sure Pakistani diplomatic manoeuvres at multilateral boards, together with blocking or slowing India-backed initiatives vital of Islamabad.
This comes at a time when Munir has been issuing veiled nuclear threats to India, a reckless posture that Washington has chosen to sidestep quite than condemn. Much more regarding is the Trump administration’s designation of the Baloch Liberation Military (BLA) as a terrorist organisation.
The transfer, critics say, performs instantly into Islamabad’s narrative whereas ignoring the professional grievances of the Baloch individuals.
For India, the outcomes are nothing wanting a warning. Pakistan has walked away with strategic, financial and diplomatic wins with out conceding something on terrorism, nuclear sabre-rattling or regional stability.
And for the USA, it’s one other chapter in a well-recognized story: buying and selling long-term safety for short-term geopolitical good points.