Daily Times

Pakistan needs to stop playing to the cheap seats. If for no other reason than it no longer needs to, not when Afghanistan has taken on the role so well.

There. That would signal a significant shift in this country’s relationship vis-à-vis the South Asia security paradigm. Though likely not in the way that the US Secretary of State had envisioned when he called on Pakistan to do more to keep the region secure, or else face the music. Nevertheless, it’s about time that the government of this country showed some backbone.

Sadly, there was little of this on display when Rex Tillerson swooped into town from Kabul and en route to New Delhi. Though Prime Minister Abbasi is said to have once again linked the question of regional security to resolution of the Kashmir issue. This might explain the unanticipated move by President Ghani, who was suddenly also in the Indian capital, because, you know, Tillerson was so good he just had to see him twice. And from there did the Afghan leader drop someone else’s bombshell: the Americans were not letting go of the Indian claim that CPEC runs through disputed territory. Thus Afghanistan would not be joining the Corridor unless and until Pakistan provided trade access to India. This was a calculated move to put Kashmir back on the backburner without talking about Indian human rights abuses in the part of the disputed territory under its control. Not quite what Abbasi had in mind. And to be honest, this was a message intended more for China, given how Ghani warned that he would restrict Pakistan’s trade access to Central Asia; a region that Beijing is keen to explore not least due to its reported abundance of natural resources.

The containment of China represents a proxy war by a different name. This is not Afghanistan’s battle. Nor is it ours. Yet both countries will end up as collateral damage when the inevitable fallout happens. Indeed, we are already halfway there

Thus the time has come for Pakistan to come up with a new strategy. A good place to start would be in terms of rhetoric. Instead of bowing and scraping as it expresses satisfaction at how engagement with the US has proceeded over the last two months since Trump came up with a new and improved strategic vision for Afghanistan — Islamabad should do some straight talking of its own, to the effect that enough really is enough. Beginning with a reminder that the US, as the occupying military power, is responsible for Afghan security. Given that this has yet to happen, we should then tell the Americans that this suggests they aren’t serious about South Asian security. And then, if they are still listening, we should in no uncertain terms tell them that not only is it unfair but it is also unjust in the extreme to use this country as well as neighbouring Afghanistan as pawns in the Great Game to contain a rapidly rising China. And then, finally, Pakistan should put it to Washington that the biggest security threat to the region today is the US-India-Afghanistan nexus.

The worst of all this is how Washington has Kabul hoodwinked. The latter believes it is empowered when issuing ultimatums to Pakistan from India. Yet the containment of Beijing represents a proxy war by a different name, by another’s design. Moreover, this is not Afghanistan’s battle. Nor is it ours. Yet both countries will end up as collateral damage when, not if, the inevitable fallout happens. Indeed, we are already halfway there.

The only thing that Pakistan can hope for is that Ghani wakes up and smells the proverbial coffee. Meaning that when Tillerson is in India, talking of arming that country with all the latest military mod cons to battle terror; while supporting its rise as a leading regional power; and stressing just how much the US is committed to contributing to the Indian capability to provide security throughout South Asia — Afghanistan should be to understand what is really going on. Namely that all this talk of Pakistan providing safe-havens to the Taliban and the Haqqani network is nothing more than a crucial distraction. This is not to give this country a clean chit over its dealings with certain groups that may or may not remain assets of some sort. But it is to underscore that the issue of state-sponsored terrorism from this side of the border across the western frontier represents a critical American advantage in terms of garnering Afghan support against Pakistan and by extension, China, too.

Instead of trumpeting the Trump vision for his country as a game-changer in terms of the vast role that India is to play there — President Ghani should be focusing on establishing and maintaining ties with both the region’s powerhouses. For already has China’s Xi Jinping said that by 2050 he sees his country as being a fully fledged global superpower; and this includes having a world class military that can fight and win wars. The key to a peaceful South Asia is for all nations to rise together. But unfortunately, the US has changed the locks.

The writer is the Deputy Managing Editor, Daily Times. She can be reached at mirandahusain@me.com and tweets @humeiwei

Published in Daily Times, October 26^th 2017.