After Rex Tillerson’s visit

Thank goodness, he did not call US State Secretary Rex Tillerson a reckless truck. 

Once he took the floor and called a woman MNA a tractor-trolley. 

On another occasion, he called a former woman miniser a dumper. 

Now, this trolley-dumper fame MNA from the ruling party is our foreign minister.

Meet Khawaja Asif.  

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson landed in Islamabad for a few hours stay before flying to New Delhi leaving a trail of fireworks to be exhibited by our Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif. 

On Wednesday evening, the foreign minister resorted to a fiery speech in the Senate, often punctuated with nationalism and Mochi Gate-style political rhetoric, amid defeating thunders of applause from treasury benches. He said that the visiting delegation had been told to accept their defeat in Afghanistan given the fact 50 percent of the Afghan territory was under Taliban and Daesh control despite a consistent fight by US and allied forces. The facts may be undisputed but this is not the way to address foreign policy issues, especially when the other side is President Doland Trump-led US.

Rex Tillerson had a tough assignment to deliver a tough message to the Pakistani side. Coldness ran high on either side after the visitor was greeted by the US ambassador to Pakistan and a mid-level foreign office’s officer at the airport. It shows both countries are passing through a complex era after the introduction of Donald Trump’s pro-Indian South Asian policy, much to the annoyance of our army.

At the time when Khawaja Asif was telling the Senate that the US had better accept it defeat in Afghanistan instead of imposing its demands on Pakistan, the US state secretary in a meeting with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi was expressing his optimism that Pakistan would meet US expectations. Whenever the terms of engagement in Afghanistan come to the fore, Pakistan calls the terms ‘demands’, while the US calls them ‘requests’ or ‘expectations’. In diplomacy, words and gestures matter a lot. The discussion behind the doors is often not for the public consumption. Similarly, sometimes, something is said in the public to convey the other side, which cannot be taken up face on face.

A few these terms of engagement was revealed in the minister’s Senate speech. Both countries exchanged lists of wanted people. And no side is sure about the whereabouts of them. The US demands that Pakistan eliminate militants’ sanctuaries on its soul, whereas Pakistan seeks credible intelligence and information about the location of these hideouts. The US demands that Pakistan takes action against the Taliban and Haqqani networks, whereas Pakistan maintains it has no active connections with the militant groups.

During the hiccups of blames and explanations, comes the statement of Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani who says that Afghanistan will not join the China-Pakistan Economic corridor unless its eastern neighbor allows India to join the transit corridor to reach Afghanistan. It seems Pakistan is alone on diplomatic fronts in South Asia. Other than the transit route, Afghanistan often complains about safe havens of militants in Pakistan. This all requires our foreign minister to adopt less fiery speeches and more credible actions to win over the trust of neighbours.

Pakistan’s diplomatic channels and foreign policy principles should be utilised to have effective alliances and allies to fight militancy and poverty in Pakistan and the region. Pakistan, India, Iran, Afghanistan, and China can find ‘agents of chaos’ as a common enemy and make a joint policy to fight it out. True, these countries are not on the same page on several issues, but a common enemy can make them friends for a while.

Your enemy’s enemy is your friend.