Pakistan is now the real problem – Khan is about to pivot away from West ...

[Maula Jatt]

few years from now US will be just as irrelevant in international politics as USSR was after Afghan defeat.

I wish but I don't think so

Thier alliance network is too strong...

 

[HammerHead081]

The west is too strong atm, they have done alot of atrocities and have destroyed many nations. No matter what you say against them, they have all the media under control to run their narrative. The only way to beat them is through the China way and that is to become independent of them and internally get strong economically. Pakistan has the potential to do so due to the sheer size of population and it is the only way. No one will listen to us unless we are economically strong.

 

[Goritoes]

Ben Habib? who's next? Joseph Dalda ? Peter banaspati ?

 

[Cash GK]

PM knows everything best and better than all of Pakistanis combined.

The West should prepare itself to face honest, brave and saintly PM of Pakistan.

West love honest n brave leader for themselves But they don’t like enemy’s leader to be honest.

 

[Khanate]

There is a WSJ opinion called “reckoning for Pakistan “ - anyone have a link to the full article?

 

[lamdacore]

Pakistan is now the real problem – Khan is about to pivot away from West, says BEN HABIB
Our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the manner of it is the biggest foreign policy disaster of the 21st century.
By BEN HABIB
PUBLISHED: 00:01, Thu, Aug 19, 2021 | UPDATED: 18:51, Thu, Aug 19, 2021
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Afghanistan: Pakistan are 'biggest victims' says minister










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Its immediate impact is a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan but its long-term impact will be decades of instability and the loss of Western influence in the region. The Prime Minister blaming the Americans for this failure is risible. In doing so all he has done is lend credence to those that claim we are no more than a lapdog for the US, unable to stand alone as a military power and that we should never have bitten off more than we can chew. And he is wrong.


There is a great deal we could and should have done. For a start, we should have been vocal months ago against the withdrawal. We had to make it known in the West and in the region that we are utterly opposed to it.The reality is that we favoured the withdrawal. General Sir Nick Carter said so in early July. So we are complicit.

Imran Khan may be pushed further away from the West (Image: Getty)

The UK favoured the withdrawal, as confirmed by Gen Sir Carter (Image: Getty)
Moreover, we were hugely divisive in Afghanistan. We sought to impose our ideology over their theology, forcing Afghans to side with us or the Taliban. God is a powerful motivator.


And those that did side with us are now being tortured and killed – not just interpreters but anyone who joined our way.
Whatever we might have thought of their religion and culture, it was not for us to go into their ecosystem and thoroughly unbalance it.
Seeking to export “democracy” to North Africa, the Middle and Near East has been an unmitigated disaster. Stable democracies cannot be created at the end of the muzzle of a gun.
What started without a geopolitical aim is ending in a geopolitical catastrophe.
This particular catastrophe is not in fact in Afghanistan but its neighbouring Pakistan.
Just as the people of Afghanistan had to choose sides, so have the people and government of Pakistan.
The West’s war in Afghanistan has been to a significant extent prosecuted through Pakistan, variously relying on or admonishing it.


It is Pakistan that has had to deal with the fallout of the Afghan invasion and it will be Pakistan that will have to deal with the fallout of the retreat. There are already over 3 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. This is now going to rise dramatically.
Pakistan rightly blames the West for the problems it faces in Afghanistan.

Afghan nationals cross the border into Pakistan at the border crossing in Chaman (Image: Getty)


It has little option but to make some sort of peace with the Taliban.


In doing so, it will pivot further away from the West. So robbed are we now of moral authority that they will have little truck with our wants and desires.
If we ever wanted to influence the Islamic world, the way to have done it was through what was moderate Pakistan. That opportunity has all but gone.
The power that will likely replace the West in the region is China.
It clearly sees the benefits that accrue to its Belt and Roads initiative from a close association with Pakistan. It has been financing projects in the country and the government for many years now.It will see the debacle in Afghanistan as an opportunity to further strengthen its ties. These overtures will be welcomed in Islamabad.

Afghanistan tops the list of countries most affected by terrorism (Image: Daily Express)China does not seek to export its ideology; it deals through commerce.It does not lecture Pakistan. It cooperates with the country. It is stable in its affections. It is therefore respected and welcomed.
https://www.express.co.uk/comment/e...istan-latest-Afghanistan-crisis-China-backing
We need to start taking a leaf out of China’s foreign policy approach. It has worked brilliantly in securing its global trade needs. Our obsession, on the other hand, with exporting our ideology and democracy has yielded nothing other than bloodshed, vast cost and the loss of moral authority.
We see China as a threat to the West. We abhor its human rights record. We wish to check its advances. But our retreat in Afghanistan has just propelled China forward and set ourselves back immeasurably in the region.

Xi Jinping... Should we be looking at China for reference? (Image: Getty)



It may be ironic that to secure our aims in the region we must emulate China’s approach but that is what we must do.
If anything is to be salvaged from the collapse in Afghanistan we need to eat a lot of humble pie and extend a hand of friendly support to Pakistan. We need to do that urgently.

I agree with the article. The west has lost all leverage over Pakistan. Even the F16 diplomacy wont work...it has run its course. The west always claims that Islam was spread by the sword but never self reflected on how they spread democracy by bombs and bullets. There were better ways to fight the WoT without upsetting the balance of power in a region. If it was OBL, just use CIA and quietly drop a bomb on him. Would have been far easier if they did not invade Afghanistan because he would not have run from there. What could the Taliban of the 1990s do to against such US aggression?...a few protests, burning of a US embassy...and then it would have fizzled away.

Nah, the US was drunk in its own power...it committed a grave mistake...and it is solely responsible for its outcome. There is no way they can turn this and pin it on anyone else. Pakistan protected itself and had already experienced the US abandonment from the Soviet-Afghan war and was justified to back the right regional player. It balanced itself well in front of both and correctly calculated the eventual exit of the US. Now, we have a favourable Afghan government for the Pakistanis. The hell with the rest of the world if they dont understand. It is our neighbourhood and we live here.

China watched and observed the west and drafted its own foreign policies for every part of the world. That is why China is benefitting more from the US follies.

I hope this helps:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-reck...jantzxtvmgg&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

The article says more about the US than Pakistan, in my opinion. It's like a husband caught a cheating wife red-handed but, nevertheless, continued with the relationship, only to be shocked when she walked out the door.

I think it's more a point of self-reflection than anything.

After so much lies and deceit, these western journalists do not have a leg to stand on. They clearly dont understand the region, the power dynamics. The western generals failed miserably who are probably the most informed people regarding such affairs. The western world needs to stop being the world's policeman...there are limits to such a power. Imagine all the money they threw away on these wars, they would not be struggling today against China's meteoric rise. Chinese war machinery's development is on a footing never seen before. The west is now struggling to field advance systems. No one is going to stop the west from repeating this mistake, eventually, it will run out of funds and its economy will shrink and with that its military reach and influence.

Blaming others is a folly and will yield nothing.

 

[313ghazi]

They don't have a leg to stand on anymore. Pakistan is lost to the western world in terms of political influence. If they want to be partners in trade that's possible - but there is too much distrust for anything much beyond that.

 

[VCheng]

They don't have a leg to stand on anymore. Pakistan is lost to the western world in terms of political influence. If they want to be partners in trade that's possible - but there is too much distrust for anything much beyond that.

That may not be a bad thing. Let Pakistan chart out its own course.

 

[PAKISTANFOREVER]

That may not be a bad thing. Let Pakistan chart out its own course.

Pakistan's future and destiny is somewhat dependent on our relationship with China, Afghanistan and Iran. These nations have a DIRECT impact on Pakistan.

 

[VCheng]

Pakistan's future and destiny is somewhat dependent on our relationship with China, Afghanistan and Iran. These nations have a DIRECT impact on Pakistan.

Of course, but it is time for Pakistan to decide for itself what to do, independent of the evil West.

 

[PAKISTANFOREVER]

Of course, but it is time for Pakistan to decide for itself what to do, independent of the evil West.

Decided. We will focus on geo-economics and not geopolitics:

Unpacking Pakistan’s geo-economic ambitions | The Express Tribune

Pakistani leaders have repeatedly signaled a shift from ‘geopolitics’ to ‘geo-economics’ in recent months

tribune.com.pk

 

[Reichsmarschall]

I hope this helps:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-reck...jantzxtvmgg&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

The article says more about the US than Pakistan, in my opinion. It's like a husband caught a cheating wife red-handed but, nevertheless, continued with the relationship, only to be shocked when she walked out the door.

I think it's more a point of self-reflection than anything.

Who is the wife in this scenario?

 

[313ghazi]

That may not be a bad thing. Let Pakistan chart out its own course.

Unfortunately I don't think we have the capacity in our leadership to actually forge a new path - they're devoid of ideas and innovation. It's the same old faces with the same old ideas. Old wine, new bottles.

The world is a smaller place than ever - we shouldn't be trying to exclude anyone or isolate from anyone. There is a lot to be learn from the political systems, social structures, values, experiences of anyone and anywhere. Unfortunately our political class never look to learn - only to mimick poorly.

 

[S.Y.A]

few years from now US will be just as irrelevant in international politics as USSR was after Afghan defeat.

It took a Chernobyl level catastrophe, after the Afghanistan adventure, to pull USSR down. US will only go down if something as drastic as that occurs. otherwise it will linger on for a looooong time like the Roman Empire.

Who is the wife in this scenario?

USA, obviously. they cheated by giving space to india, bla/bra, ttp, and anti-pakistan movements in afghanistan, under their nose.

 

[VCheng]

Decided. We will focus on geo-economics and not geopolitics:

Unpacking Pakistan’s geo-economic ambitions | The Express Tribune

Pakistani leaders have repeatedly signaled a shift from ‘geopolitics’ to ‘geo-economics’ in recent months

tribune.com.pk

Unfortunately I don't think we have the capacity in our leadership to actually forge a new path - they're devoid of ideas and innovation. It's the same old faces with the same old ideas. Old wine, new bottles.

The world is a smaller place than ever - we shouldn't be trying to exclude anyone or isolate from anyone. There is a lot to be learn from the political systems, social structures, values, experiences of anyone and anywhere. Unfortunately our political class never look to learn - only to mimick poorly.

For both posts quoted above, all I can say at this time is we need to wait and see what the Pakistani leaderships says, does and actually achieves.