Thread by @commandeleven

It's very sad that the failure in #US foreign policy is blamed on #Pakistan, when we have repeatedly attempted to bring the #Taliban to the negotiating table with the #Afghan govt.

tribune.com.pk/story/1662536/…

Claiming that #Pakistan is doing the "bare minimum" is more applicable to the #US policy in #Afghanistan, supporting a puppet govt, unable to enforce it's writ across the nation. @ashrafghani is regularly defied by his own governors.

#Pakistan is the only nation that has achieved significant success against #terrorism and #militancy on it's soil, after suffering over 85,000 innocent deaths due to terror acts by the #TTP and other organizations.

#Pakistan has long stated that bringing the #Taliban into the political process is the only way to bring peace to #Afghanistan, which @ashrafghani has finally done. Now, the #US wants to pressure Pakistan again to support their agenda, while doing nothing against #TTP.

On one side of the table, the #US blasts #Pakistan for its "connections" with the #Taliban, demanding they be severed, then turns and demands that we engage the Taliban for the #Afghan and #US government. Hypocrisy at its best.

Repeatedly stating that #Pakistan uses the #Taliban to safeguard its national interests in an "#Indian-influenced" #Kabul government is a fallacy. #Pakistan has cleared it's soil of foreign supported militants, and continues to fight in #Balochistan against the remaining.

#Pakistan has learned from the 1980s, when the #US left it high and dry, and sparked the rise of militancy in our own country, including using books prepared in the #US to teach "#jihad" to #Afghan refugees. This is a blowback from that #US foreign policy failure.

When the #US realizes that #Pakistan can't be pressured with cutting off aid and attempts to blacklist us, they will finally understand that transactional diplomacy will not build allies in this region.

The only thing that the #US pressure has done is reinforced the relationship with #China and created new opportunities with #Russia, a long-time #Indian ally, neither are friendly the #US interests in the region.

It has also created a distance between #Pakistan and #SaudiArabia, who has been engaged to bring additional pressure on Pakistan's armed forces, even though the #Saudis are the world's biggest exporter of extremism via #Wahabism.

It's time for the #US to wake up to the reality that transactional diplomacy will not work anymore, and engage with #Pakistan on clear national interests for both parties.

commandeleven.com/briefing-paper…