Reuters: Pakistan says U.S. must not make it a 'scapegoat' for Afghan failures
KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan rejected on Wednesday U.S. criticism of its efforts to fight terrorism saying it should not be used as a scapegoat for the failure of the U.S. military to win the war in Afghanistan.
U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his policy for Afghanistan on Monday, committing to an open-ended conflict there and singling out Pakistan for harboring Afghan Taliban insurgents and other militants.
U.S. officials later warned that aid to Pakistan might be cut and Washington might downgrade nuclear-armed Pakistan's status as a major non-NATO ally to pressure it to do more to help bring about an end to America's longest-running war.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif added his voice to a chorus of indignation in Pakistan over the U.S. criticism, reiterating Pakistan's denial that it harbors militants.
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Previous Post: President Trump Points A Finger At Pakistan For Not Putting Pressure On Islamist Militants (August 22, 2017).
WNU Editor: What has rattled Pakistan is this .... Trump’s Request for India’s Help in Afghanistan Rattles Pakistan (NYT). The friend of my enemy is my enemy .... this is how Pakistan is going to view this U.S. request for India's assistance in Afghanistan. Here is an easy prediction .... U.S. - Pakistan relations are going to get worse, and I will not be surprised if Pakistan's support for these militant groups is increased. But what is really going to get Pakistan riled up is if this happens .... US May Sanction Pakistani Officials Over Ties to ‘Terrorists’ (TOLO News). As to what is my point of view .... there is a lot of truth in this commentary .... U.S. Calls Pakistan on its Double-Game (Bennett Seftel, Cipher Brief).
4 comments:
It the US sanctions enough countries, especially individuals within countries it disagrees with the lesson to the world will be, 'establish and rely on no dealings with the US that are important, only those that can be written off in the event of the imposition of sanctions. Find another country to center deals and provide services.'
Bob,
Unfortunately you are materially correct on this. As I have long said and probably said it in comments on this website before, sanctions not only accomplish nothing of substance mid to long term, very minimally short term, and they only further undermine the role of the US dollar as world reserve currency and make the desired "soft landing" less likely when the dollar is lost as world reserve currency but pretty much assure the undesired "hard landing."
Since the loss of the US dollar in this capacity is inevitable and cannot be prevented, the goal of the US government should be to work with the major world powers to help ensure that the result is a "soft landing" for the US and its economy.
Now I see why it took so long to make a decision on Afghanistan. POTUS knew the right course, his instincts even told him such, but for some reason or reasons he cannot follow those instincts or do the right thing for the American people. As such, he and his team have to come up with some convoluted logic in staying the course. Heck, POTUS cannot even help himself. Normal people often act to "save their own skin" in times of difficulty. Had he announced an immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan and began carrying it out forthwith, as the American people elected him to do, this would have provided a buffer against impeachment as he would be remembered as the POTUS who got us out of Afghanistan and would have all but assured him of a good legacy that historians years into the future would have praised as a visionary and a patriot. But no, he has to stay the course!!
There was a piece in the WSJ about how corrupt trucking was in Pakistan.
Many of the sector of the country are run by groups such that if you are not born into the right family, you can forget about it.
WSJ is behind a serious paywall, so I cannot find that article.
Web search show 2007 to 2008 were bad years for Pakistan. Right about then government debt jumped and I mean jumped. The government is priming the pump IMO. Which is okay. I believe Keynes was correct. He never said deficit spend until the cows came home. It is more like 1 to 3 years instead of 1, 2 or more decades.
Recently articles on Pakistan have been more positive. Still I do not see how it can survive an increasing Gov debt to GDP ratio or an increasing deficit.
Pull out of Afghanistan, stop paying Pakistan and watch it debt/death spiral. The only way to stop it would be for China and Pakistan to carve up Afghanistan. You know conquer people and take their crap.
https://tradingeconomics.com/pakistan/indicators
I always enjoy reading NWU comments on a variety of subjects, as well as the many others who add value here. Its really refreshing to see the civil discussions that are taking place lately, where there is no Jay F. to attack people and troll this blog.
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