Daily Times

A state’s foreign policy is an instrument to pursue its national interest. A good and effective foreign policy is one that fulfils all national interests without facing any hurdles. A state with an excellent foreign policy will have excellent relations with its neighbours. Foreign policy could also take responsibility for the security of the state. Numerous factors affect a country’s foreign policy. It includes the geographic location, political situation, population, literacy rate, natural resources and technological advancement. It is also a debate among the scholars that foreign policy is intersected between domestic and international politics.

Media, a basic source of information, has a major influence in making foreign policy to manoeuvre the results.

In this technological world, the media has played a vital role in pursuing the state’s national interest. As far as the media is advancing, it has become an important and powerful factor in pursuing a foreign policy.

Media has different roles in formatting the policies and protecting the state’s national interests. It can enforce the decision-makers to comply with their demands, which is, in fact, a voice of the state’s citizens. It plays a role of advocacy to avoid uncertainty in the policies.

Media could enforce the lawmakers to promote a good and soft picture of the states through their ambassadors. Transparency in the state’s functions could encourage the soft image of a country. A policy in which a session is conducted with civil society plays a productive role in portraying the soft image of a country.

Media could enforce the lawmakers to promote a good and soft picture of the states through their ambassadors

Think tanks are the institutions responsible for the research and after their findings, they are then ready to make different policies, including social, cultural and foreign policies. These policies are solely dependent on the advent and discovering different events. With the formation of different international organisations, new security issues and think tanks now have a major role in the formation of foreign policies. Think tanks have a great influence on policymaking and are influential in both national and international levels. They are an effective source of political management in international relations.

The demand for think tanks to the states has been increased as states are continuously in need of experienced think tanks to take opinions to face the challenges and to counter it. To bring experts into the government machinery, think tanks playing a very positive role.

Above all think, tanks can bring positive results in the state’s domestic and international affairs. They can also provide a facilitation facility to the states if there exist any conflicts.

Pakistan should also promote their think tanks to make a foreign policy productive. This will promote the soft image of a country. Cultural, academic and communication exchange should be accelerated to showcase its image.

The US is now trying to maintain its bilateral and multilateral relations in South Asia. A major factor to keep South Asia in its front row of foreign policy is to combat stable South Asia. The second factor is to balance the geopolitical shift at a larger extent. The US’s withdrawal from Afghanistan is a major political shift in the region, which the US wants to rebalance to combat the terrorist network. For that purpose, the US is trying to make strong relations with India. A high-level US-Delhi exchange has been witnessed in many events. A US-INDO deal is a clear example of strengthening ties. The US is also trying to combat or contain the emergence of China in the region. It is of the view that its hegemony will be affected if China emerges in the region.

The US is also continuously trying to help Afghanistan and give massive assistance to the Afghan government to squeeze the gap and to remove the threat to peace.

It is observed from the past events that media in the US has played a remarkable role in foreign policymaking.

After 9/11, mass media were trying to bring the states in South Asia on a page to fight terrorism. Media and thinktanks gave a name to it: “War on Terror,” which clearly defined the foreign policy of the US. Mass media adopted a submissiveness policy and followed the White House agenda for Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, Syria and, most commonly, against AL-QAEDA.

Think tanks’ attentions towards South Asia, especially Pakistan, is not historically uniform. In the post 9/11 era, the US’s foreign policy was very clear: to fight against militants in Afghanistan. For staying in Afghanistan to fill the buffer zone after the cold war media, the US cleared the path and removed all hurdles. On many occasions, the US encouraged and appreciated Pakistan in the war against terrorism, just to engage Pakistan. After losing interest in Pakistan, its media chanted a “Do More” slogan for Pakistan, which clearly showed that thinktanks have no interest in Pakistan.

It is now clearly shown from the current event that the US wants to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan for which it has asked Pakistan to mediate or facilitate. The US media and think tanks are offering a mediation or facilitation opportunity to solve the Indo-Pak territory dispute. It clearly shows that the US has taken both countries into account in making its foreign policy. In media or public gatherings, the US has been continuously offering itself as a third party to solve the conflict among neighbours. It is seen that its foreign policy is to reach a peace deal in Afghanistan and to inject its tentacle in India. The US-Indo pacific deal is based on advancement in technology and to invest heavily on nuclear research, which is again a part of the containment policy of the US against China.

Media is also pointing towards Iran to stop working on nuclear technologies, which the US considers a threat to peace. The US put sanctions on Iran and asked the rest of the states to stop trade with Iran. China is still doing trade with Iran irrespective of the US sanctions, which is again an alarming threat for the US.

The US is trying hard to make a strong foreign policy for South Asia for a smooth withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Moreover, it is trying to make good ties with India to contain China. Think tanks of the US are also trying to strengthen relations with Pakistan to facilitate the US officials.

The writer is the Assistant Director of the Energy and Power Department of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. He is a private member of the “Environment Protection” committee of the Forest Ministry of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.