New era of Pak-US Relations!

 

                                      Ishraq Ahmed Hashmi

Pakistan-US relations have been plagued by uncertainty since the beginning, but during President Donald Trump’s second term in office, there are signs of positive changes in them, which are a welcome development towards regional and global peace and development, especially the second visit of Army Chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir to the US in less than two months. 

This is a clear sign of the growing closeness and strengthening of mutual cooperation between the two countries, which he expressed himself while addressing a gathering of leading figures of the Pakistani community in the US. The Army Chief expressed his views on many issues, including Pak-US strategic cooperation, including India’s hostile intentions against Pakistan, the need for an immediate resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, the eradication of terrorism, the dissemination of anti-national content on social media and the tragedy of Gaza. According to the ISPR, the Field Marshal said regarding the recent Pak-India war that India is still determined to create instability in the region, but Pakistan will give a befitting reply to any Indian aggression.  

A bilateral conflict would be a big mistake for India. He said that Kashmir is not an internal matter of India, it is an incomplete international agenda. India presents itself as a “Vishva Guru” but in practice it is nothing like that. The international terrorism of the Indian intelligence agency “RAW” is a cause of global concern, as exemplified by the killing of a Sikh leader in Canada, the case of eight Indian Navy officers in Qatar and the arrest of Indian officer Kulbhushan Jadhav from Balochistan. 

He also mentioned Pakistan’s achievements on the international relations front but also said that many terrorist organizations including Fitna-ul-Kharij from Afghanistan are active against Pakistan, however, the terrorists will have to face justice with full force.  He described the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza as the worst human tragedy, which poses serious threats at both the global and regional levels. 

He thanked President Trump, whose strategic leadership not only stopped the Pakistan-India war, but also stopped wars between many other countries in the world. Field Marshal Asim Munir, in his second visit, met with US political figures as well as military leadership and discussed various aspects of strategic cooperation with them and invited the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to visit Pakistan. 

American think tank Bloomberg has described the Field Marshal's visits as a new wave of warmth in Pak-US relations and has paid tribute to his wise leadership, describing him as a central figure in Pakistan's military, diplomatic and economic decisions. Observers have described the Field Marshal's visits as highly successful in terms of the Pak-US joint security agenda and US investment in Pakistan.  

These visits have resulted in significant improvements in Pak-US relations and an atmosphere of trust is emerging that is a sign of a new era of mutual cooperation. In view of the challenges facing the coalition government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, including the economic crisis, the nation should expect far-reaching results from improved relations with the US. In this regard, balancing relations with China and the US will require skilled diplomacy, which the Queen of Pakistan has.