Oxbridge Lecture: Pakistan and US relations

Politics is diplomacy. If you are seeking friendships in the age of nuclear weapons, back off a bit.

As sovereign countries, we should be mindful of the domestic and political situation in Washington, D.C., the conflict in the Middle East and the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, said Jalil Abbas Jilani, a diplomat and former Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S., at the Oxbridge Lecture, a series of events organized by Oxford and Cambridge Trust, among others.

Nuclear proliferation, terrorism, cybersecurity and India-Pakistan relations are crucial for enhancing political ties, Jilani said.

But India and Pakistan relations will deteriorate, because India exploits the peace process. They continue to develop bogus propaganda against Pakistanis, and it will be of no use to Pakistan to rekindle relations with a country that lives in the past.

When Jilani was a foreign secretary in Washington, D.C., his focus was Afghanistan. Worldwide relations between countries aren’t stable, be it between the U.S. and Iran or China and Pakistan, Jilani said. There was support for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, but concerns surfaced under Donald Trump’s administration.

“To what degree did your tenure as foreign secretary in the United States help Afghanistan?” I asked Jilani regarding Afghanistan. “Did your efforts strengthen the dialogue between Pakistan and Afghanistan?”

“During my years as foreign secretary of Pakistan to the U.S., our main focus was peace and stability in Afghanistan,” Jilani said. “As a major non-NATO ally of the United States, we deployed 150,000 troops to the Pak-Afghanistan border to stabilize the situation and it remained that way.”

Pakistan played a significant role in advancing reconciliation in Afghanistan, but was unsuccessful, Jilani said. “Our efforts didn’t succeed due to the absence of internal consensus in Afghanistan in support of the reconciliation process.”

Past relations often pose dangers to peace talks with countries such as India or Afghanistan. Jilani provided a way forward for Pakistan and the U.S. to revive the structural dialogue they had with each other. Both countries should build mutual trust hereon.

Pakistan’s legitimate security concerns regarding Afghanistan and India should be interrogated, Jilani said. Trump should “avoid tweets and social media while conducting foreign policy.”

It’s time America realizes Pakistan has been its good friend, but its turning to India confirms it hasn’t reciprocated, said Irshad Ullah Khan, chairman M.E.F.T., Pakistan. China, Iran and Russia are Pakistan’s friends and their ties cannot be diminished by any threats that emanate from Washington. Khan hopes U.S. policy changes toward Pakistan.

However, endorsing a bold stance so openly can do us more harm than good.