Dialogue with Pak under Biden will not be the same as during Obama’s tenure, former diplomat said
Washington:
The Biden administration is likely to be pragmatic in its dealings with Pakistan, urging Islamabad to act on terrorism-related issues and support US efforts for peace in Afghanistan, according to a former senior Pakistani diplomat.
There may be a resumption of the process of strategic dialogue with Pakistan, but it will not be on the same level or on the same scale as under the Obama administration, said former Pakistani ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani. , to the Press Trust of India news agency.
A Biden administration is likely to be pragmatic in its dealings with Islamabad. He will continue to engage with Pakistan, calling on Islamabad to act on terrorism-related issues, including the FATF, and support US efforts for peace in Afghanistan. A Biden administration is unlikely to resume payment for security assistance or coalition support funds, he said.
Coalition Support Funds are drawn from a cash fund designed by the President and authorized by Congress to reimburse counterterrorism allies for the additional costs associated with supporting U.S. combat operations, a cost additional being a cost that exceeds the normal military expenditure of this government’s army. .
In 2018, the Trump administration suspended security assistance to Pakistan after failing to bring terrorist groups under control. During his first official visit to Pakistan in 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hoped to “reset relations” with the Pakistani government led by Imran Khan after a period of disagreement among longtime allies over the matter. security on the accommodation of Afghan terrorists.
Pakistan’s close ties with China, its lack of democracy and its disregard for human rights will not be overlooked, said Haqqani, who is currently a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank in Washington.
Observing that US President-elect Joe Biden and his advisers understand the importance of a stable and peaceful Afghanistan, Mr Haqqani said they may prefer to extend the withdrawal of US troops, making it truly conditional on the end of the Taliban violence and use the extra time. exert more pressure on the Taliban and Pakistan to secure a deal that is a peace deal and not just a withdrawal deal.
“Biden will listen more to the American allies there, the government in Kabul, and will not continue to give in to the Taliban like the Trump administration negotiators have so far done. Biden has publicly supported maintaining a anti-terrorist presence in Afghanistan, “said the former Pakistani. said a diplomat.
The United States has withdrawn its troops from Afghanistan as part of a landmark peace deal, which calls for full withdrawal by May next year, subject to certain security guarantees, while the Taliban lead peace talks with the Afghan government in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
The Trump administration signed a major peace deal with the Taliban in February, setting a timetable for a full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan within 14 months, as it seeks to emerge from its longest war.
However, Afghanistan saw a spike in violence, with the Taliban attacking provincial capitals, in some cases prompting US airstrikes, as talks in Doha mired in delays.
A Biden administration will continue to pull out of Afghanistan and engage with Pakistan, but will do so in a more nuanced way, Haqqani said.
Noting that Biden understands Afghanistan and Pakistan well, Haqqani said that as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and vice-chairman for eight years, Biden knows the reasons for the conflict in Afghanistan.
As the initiator of the Biden Lugar Bill (later the Kerry Lugar Berman Bill), Biden saw how billions of dollars in civilian aid did not change Pakistan’s strategic calculation on the opposition to US efforts in Afghanistan. He is now unlikely to restore massive amounts of security or economic assistance to Pakistan, he said.
American public opinion supports a military withdrawal from Afghanistan and a Biden administration will continue this policy. But Biden will not step down by ceding more ground to the Taliban and will certainly be more attentive to the Taliban’s lingering ties to al Qaeda, Haqqani said.
I first interacted with Joe Biden as a Senator and found him to be a man of empathy who sought win-win relationships with other countries, always putting America’s interest at the forefront not only rhetorically but in concrete terms, he added.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
