Daily Times

Is Sir Kim Darroch still the UK ambassador in Washington? The answer is ‘yes’. The Downing Street has expressed “full support” in his credentials while the White House has not yet issued him an order to leave. Of course, any such order from Washington is bound to be reciprocated by London.

Professionally speaking, there is no harm in ambassadors writing assessment reports about the countries they work in. It is their job. If Sir Kim assesses that the White House is full of inconsistencies and is “inapt” in its handling of national and international affairs, he is supposed to convey the same in so many words. This exactly is what the US envoys do in foreign countries of their posting, including Pakistan.

US author Alex Vatanka wrote a book titled ‘Iran and Pakistan: Security, Diplomacy and American Influence’ a couple of years ago. It consisted of diplomatic cables offering the readers different perspectives of a reality. Similarly, other compilations of diplomatic notes are filled with harsher and more offensive remarks than Sir Kim’s. Who else other than the US President Donald Trump knows better about this practice? After all, US diplomats are highly meticulous about drafting notes and writing reports. Wikileaks are still in the air. Against this background, it seems that the response to leaks of the UK ambassador about the White House by President Trump is more than desired, if not exaggerated at all.

The president is on a Twitter spree not only against Sir Kim but also Theresa May, which is totally uncalled for. Saying that the UK is going to have a new prime minister which is good or that May has messed up Brexit has nothing to do with Sir Kim’s assessments. Theresa May must have made some mistakes why leading her country, some of which were prominent on the media. Similarly, Brexit sticks out like a sore thumb in international affairs.

But so do pulling out troops from Afghanistan, a Trump election promise, or relinquishing of anti-nuclear enrichment deal with Iran by the US or the atrocities in Yemen and so on. So Trump should better deal with the matter professionally. Instead of tweeting that the US had no more deals with Sir Kim, he should be joining the efforts to trace the culprit behind the leaks.

The UK should also understand that there is a room for improvement in their communication system. The leak could be motivated by personal interests but it has the potential to leave a mark on international affairs. Such matters should not be taken lightly.  *