In a Fox News interview on Sunday, US President Donald Trump excoriated Pakistan, essentially for gobbling up lavish American government funding to stamp out terrorism from its soil, but doing little about it. Using sharp tones, Mr Trump said: “And we give Pakistan $1.3 billion a year... Laden lived in Pakistan, we are supporting Pakistan... we are giving $1.3 billion which we don’t give them any more, I ended it because they don’t do a damn thing for us.”
This is a legitimate grouse. Many US administrations before Mr Trump have felt exactly the same way. Islamabad has taken Washington for a ride. And yet, India will be hasty to conclude that the United States is about to lean so hard on Pakistan as to snap any meaningful ties.
Pakistan has built its own leverage over the years. If the US has grown seriously disappointed with Islamabad, the ties of China — like the US a permanent member of the UN Security Council — have deepened and broadened with the Pakistani military as well as civilian regimes. America used to click mainly with the men in uniform.
Besides China, Islamabad has forged a new working relationship with Russia, leveraging its ability to influence the situation as regards terrorism. In addition, of course, it practically controls the Pakistan-resident Taliban leadership, with which the US is trying to cut a political deal so as to be able to stick around in Afghanistan even if the extremists manage to return to power. India needs to innovate in these circumstances.
