With all due respect, Sir, what did you, or exPMIK expect to hear? "We are so afraid of the principled stance of the Khan, that the senile Biden will simply raise his hands and run away crying like a little girl, so please carry on doing whatever it is that you wish to do, totally unopposed"?
Surely, the thought must have (or should have) crossed the mind of a statesman like exPMIK what would his fallback position be if his increasingly boisterous bluffs (no matter how principled or attractive) would be actually called out in the game of international geopolitics. Talking the talk is easy, but walking the actual walk is not, specially when the other side is prepared to push back in return and one's own economy is running on empty already even before push comes to shove.
May be exPMIK thought that his nation was ready for a total economic collapse and would be able to deal with such a scenario with success by relying on help from certain quarters?
One would like to have hoped that the wise counsel available to exPMIK would have been heeded to well before time, before things came to such a head at all. Such is the actual art of diplomacy.
The issue is not simple as that..
IK has never been hostile with US, he defended Pakistan interest.
The same IK had excellent working relation with Donald Trump.
( The problem here is senile Joe).
Afghanistan..
It all started after US making Pakistan the scapegoat or punching bag to vent its anger. They vilified Pakistan. Pakistan simply responded to the accusations in straight forward tone directly.
The reason was US was not able to exert influence on Pakistan as it used to.
The US bases story is correct ( Don't know why ISPR denied it)
On 6th of June CIA chief Burns travelled to Pakistan and asked for drone bases and anti terrorism cooperation. ( I still remember he wanted to meet PM but IK declined to meet). They returned empty handed. Reported in Dawn as well and was discussed on social media as well.
On 19th June PM said ' Absolutely not' when asked the question.
This deteriorated the situation further. From Oct/Nov there were rumors of conspiracy and people/anchors including establishment tout Kamran Khan, Haroon Rasheed, Sethi and few others explicitly saying ' IK has been given time uptil March'. Government will be removed in March.
The famous back to back meeting of US chancellor ( I think the lady) and much advertised meetings with Maryam Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif. Their pet journalists started saying America is now on plmn side. ( Remember the same day China foreign minister tweeted in favour of IK).
The Russia visit.
Later on countless reports of US ambassy staff mettings with many parliamentarians including with low key ones with no relevance like 'Riaz' or 'Noor alam khan'. Aleem Khan after meeting which he posted on his Facebook page ( post removed afterwards) gave resignation to IK a week afterwards.
Than the letter ' meeting minutes' was received before the NCV announcement and the very next day opposition announced NCV.
Shahbaz Sharif famously said when NCV was announced ' WHY DID YOU SAY ABSOLUTELY NOT'.
Maryam Nawaz and Ranasanaullah explicitly admitted Nawaz Sharif meeting with foreign agency people in London.
The post can go on for many more paragraphs if each minor thing in the chain of events is listed.
It's just a short summary, to help get the point across.
@HRK @Foxtrot Alpha @PanzerKiel
Please do the minor corrections if there are any.
IMO the letter/message was not addressed to IK, but the establishment.
It was a go ahead to put the plan in motion.
The establishment was on board.
Remember how due to OIC conference plan was put on hold, how establishment gave message to its puppies to not disrupt the conference and let it conclude in peace.
It was a collaborated coup with multiple actors.
The courts are just arm twisted whenever they are needed.