Roving Periscope: The US ‘re-enters’ Pakistan to checkmate China
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Last week, a lamenting Pakistan Defense Minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif ‘exposed’ a secret everybody was aware of: Islamabad nurtured ‘terror assets’ for 30 years on behalf of the USA, Europe, and the UK during their war against the USSR in Afghanistan.
After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the West quickly left Pakistan to fend for itself. Burdened with a million terrorists of various hues, the Taliban, and millions of Afghan refugees, Pakistan sank deeper to become a rogue, bankrupt state—and turned the unemployed terrorists towards India.
In the wake of the 9/11/2001 attack on the Twin Towers in New York, Washington launched a “War on Terror”, singled out “good terrorists” from “bad terrorists”, eliminated Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad (Pakistan) in 2011, and reinstalled the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2011.
That left Pakistan orphaned a second time, and fully dependent on the crumbs from China. Beijing is now seen as the puppeteer of the terrorists who killed 26 Hindu tourists on April 22 at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir to deflect the attention from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) where its USD 60 billion worth of investments is threatened because of the separatist activities of the Balochs demanding freedom from Islamabad. The Balochs are not only killing Pakistani soldiers but also Chinese workers and engineers.
What China may not have, however, bargained for was India’s all-out “Operation Sindoor”, which has completely exposed Pakistan’s vulnerability on all fronts.
Fearing that Pakistan might slip into a fatal embrace of China and Turkey, America may have decided to re-romance with its ‘ex.’
Everybody in Washington knows whom to talk to in Pakistan. Its current President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif are both lackies of Army chief Syed Asim Munir Ahmed Shah, infamous as Mullah Munir or Jihadi General.
In the 1980s, the US Presidents–Ronand Reagon (Republican) and Jimmy Carter (Democrat)– directly engaged with the then Pakistani dictator General Zia ul-Haq. Now the White House has another Republican President in Donald Trump. And he is a businessman!
That is why US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on Saturday, called directly—but not unusually!—General Munir asking him to de-escalate the build up to prevent the outbreak of a ‘regional war’ in South Asia.
Shortly before this telephonic call, to make sure that Islamabad responded positively, the US also managed to get the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to approve a tranche of USD 1 billion to Pakistan, despite India’s strong objection and even abstention from the vote—because negative voting is not allowed in the IMF!–amid the ongoing Operation Sindoor.
Of course, China and Turkey favored Pakistan, but the loan would not have been approved for Pakistan without the US nod.
The latest US step is also aimed at arm-twisting India to sign on a tariff agreement at the earliest.
The media reported that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio dialled General Munir and then India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar after Islamabad launched ballistic missiles aimed even at New Delhi, called both the sides to de-escalate the situation, and offered to facilitate talks between them.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Secretary Rubio emphasized that both sides need to identify methods to de-escalate and re-establish direct communication to avoid miscalculation. He further proposed U.S. support in facilitating productive discussions to avert future disputes,” a US readout said.
Interestingly, Secretary Rubio communicated directly with General Munir instead of Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, as the Pakistani military’s dominance in shaping the country’s foreign and security policies is an open secret.
Dr. Jaishankar tweeted: “Had a conversation with US @SecRubio this morning. India’s approach has always been measured and responsible and remains so.,”
As India expected, Pakistan started an unprecedented offensive soon after the IMF nodded the immediate disbursement of USD 1 billion under the ongoing Extended Fund Facility, despite India’s strong opposition that these funds could be used to spread cross-border terrorism.
State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir earlier today. He continued to urge both parties to find ways to deescalate and offered U.S. assistance in starting constructive talks in order to avoid future conflicts.”
Pakistan, which initially fired smaller drones into the Indian territory before the IMF executive board meeting, stepped up the attack and fired six ballistic missiles at India, one of them aimed at New Delhi, but it was shot down in Haryana’s Sirsa. All of the missiles were successfully shot down, the media reported.
Escalating the situation, Pakistan launched Fatah-II ballistic missiles at Indian Air Force (IAF) forward bases and cities in India as they launched ‘Operation Bunyan Un Marsoos’ on Saturday.
Officials said that Pakistan reinforced misadventure only after the IMF bailout, as it did not want to jeopardise the deal.
“Pakistan did not want its IMF bailout to be jeopardised in any way. Hence, their big escalation started after that. Pakistan also cleared its airspace on Saturday morning, unlike Friday, indicating it waited for the IMF bailout before launching its big operation, which has been foiled by India.”
India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, in a press briefing, described Pakistan’s overnight actions as both “provocative” and “escalatory”, and that the Pakistani military attempted air intrusions at more than two dozen locations spanning from Srinagar to Naliya, all of which were successfully thwarted by Indian forces.
IAF’s Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, and Indian Army’s Colonel Sofiya Qureshi reported the signs of Pakistan relocating troops closer to the front lines — a move they said could indicate preparations for further escalation.
They also said that Pakistan had deployed a range of offensive tools, including drones, loitering munitions, fighter jets, and long-range weapon systems, to strike both military installations and civilian areas along the western front.
