Trump’s comments during his inauguration speech should send alarm bells ringing across the establishment in Pakistan as he said that he would unite the “civilized” world against “radical Islamic terrorism”, which he would strive to completely eradicate from the face of the earth. Moreover, in a statement posted on the White House website after Donald Trump’s inauguration, the new administration made it clear that eradicating radical Islamic terrorism was one of the major goals of US foreign policy now. The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that the new administration explicitly implied through its statement that it will aggressively pursue military operations, work to cut off funding for terrorist groups, and use cyber warfare to disrupt propaganda and recruitment efforts. Furthermore, another new development is the fact that unlike Obama, Trump has used the words ‘radical Islamic terrorism’ to refer to groups like the Islamic State. Obama and Hillary refrained from using the word, so as not to allow militants from portraying that US is at war with Islam. Trump, however, has shown that he is not worried about showing his relation with Islam in a positive light, which shows that he is not keen on heeding to the sentiments of Muslims. More importantly, the statements should send a clear message to the foreign policymakers in Pakistan that unlike Trump’s predecessors, he would not be lenient with regards to support for or sanctuary to terror groups. Considering the fact that Trump’s election rhetoric was majorly based on renewing the fight against what he referred to as Islamic terrorism, the establishment in Pakistan should now rethink its policy with regards to Afghanistan and Kashmir. They should be wary of the fact that it won’t be easy for Pakistan to receive financial and military aid from the USA unless and until it takes stern action with regards to clamping down on terror groups, sanctuaries, training grounds and entities that fund terrorism. Now, it won’t be easy for the establishment in Pakistan to get away with not ‘doing more’ with regards to eradication of terror groups. The change of administration in America indicates that from now on, in order to get any kind of aid, Pakistan would have to make serious and visible efforts with regards to the eradication of terrorism and militancy from its soil. This may be easy to do on the western front, considering the fact that Pakistan is already engaged in anti-terror operations in the northwest, but it will be really difficult to carry out anti-terror operations on the eastern front or against those groups that are used against Kabul. On these fronts, Pakistan would have to rethink and reformulate its entire strategy on how to deal with India in Kashmir or how to gain influence in Kabul. Thus, it would be really interesting to see how things would play out with regards to Pakistan’s policy on Kashmir or Kabul. Pakistan would have to reformulate its strategy on how it engages with India in Kashmir and how it engages with Afghanistan in Kabul. This it would have to do keeping in mind that its policies in this regard do not clash with Trump’s policy of the ‘eradication of Islamic terror’. Pakistan would have to make sure, when dealing in Kashmir or Kabul, it does not seek help of those groups that the Trump administration seeks to eliminate. Not only would this be detrimental to Pakistan’s prospects of receiving aid, it would put Pakistan on the wrong side of USA at a time when Pakistan and India are increasingly moving towards conflict.