Trump warns Pak not to fuel terror
US President Donald Trump’s AfPak policy unravelled on Tuesday was an exercise in plain-speaking as has come to be expected of him. There was no mincing of words, no hiding behind diplomatic niceties, no temperance. It was indeed typical Trump at his candid best. He warned Pakistan for providing “safe havens to agents of chaos and terror” and deprecated its strategy of using terror as a tool. Indeed, Trump made it clear to Pakistan his country could no longer be silent about Islamabad’s safe havens for terrorist organisations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond." In a prime time televised address, he said: “Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effort in Afghanistan. It has much to lose by continuing to harbour terrorists. A core pillar of our new strategy in Afghanistan is a shift from a time-based approach to one based on conditions,” he added. At the same time, Trump had a tough message for India too. While touching upon the strategic relationship with New Delhi he said bluntly that the US would like India to help it in Afghanistan, especially in the economic sector.
On the issue of US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Trump argued against a hasty pullout. He said his new approach was aimed at preventing Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for Islamist militants bent on attacking the United States. Trump did not say how many US troops would be sent, but Defence Secretary James Mattis has plans on the table to send about 4,000 more to add to the 8,400 deployed in Afghanistan currently. Seeking a bigger role for India in war-torn Afghanistan, the President said, "We appreciate India's important contributions to stability in Afghanistan, but India makes billions of dollars in trade with the United States, and we want them to help us more with Afghanistan, especially in the area of economic assistance and development." Just like on the climate change issue, on Afghanistan too, Trump linked India’s flourishing trade with the US to demand a greater pound of flesh in Afghanistan. Considering that India already contributes two billion dollars to Afghanistan in Development Partnership Assistance, which is the single largest outlay for any third country and has recently approved a proposal to up that by another billion dollars, Trump’s position is patently unfair and unjustified. But that is Trump and it is impossible to ignore him considering the position he holds.