Yusuf reminds US of alternatives as Biden fails to telephone Imran

WASHINGTON: National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf said Islamabad had a number of other options if the United States continued to give Pakistan and its leadership the cold shoulder.

In a conversation with the Financial Times, Yusuf “complained” about President Joe Biden’s failure to contact Prime Minister Imran Khan even as Washington sought help from Islamabad to stop the Taliban from taking over Afghanistan following the withdrawal of foreign troops.

“The president of the United States hasn’t spoken to the prime minister of such an important country who the US itself says is make-or-break in some cases, in some ways, in Afghanistan — we struggle to understand the signal, right?” said the official.

“We’ve been told every time that … [the phone call] will happen, it’s technical reasons or whatever. But frankly, people don’t believe it,” he added.

Washington has leaned on Pakistan in recent years to help bring senior Taliban leadership to the negotiating table and secure a deal to exit the country with few attacks on US soldiers.

But despite calls from Imran to broaden US-Pakistan relations beyond Afghanistan, Biden has yet to call him since taking office this year.

“If a phone call is a concession, if a security relationship is a concession, Pakistan has options,” Yusuf said, refusing to elaborate.

Pakistan has cultivated deep ties with China, which has invested billions in infrastructure projects as part of its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.

A senior Biden administration official said: “There are still a number of world leaders President Biden has not been able to speak with personally yet. He looks forward to speaking with Prime Minister Khan when the time is right.”

The perceived diplomatic affront marks the latest setback to US-Pakistan relations after their co-operation during the war on terror following the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center by al-Qaeda, the Islamist group founded by Osama bin Laden.

In 2004, the US named Pakistan an official major non-Nato ally, spurred by Washington’s need for support to fight in Afghanistan. But US administrations have since regularly accused their ally of harbouring Taliban insurgents, claims denied by Pakistan.

Under Donald Trump’s administration, the US severed $2 billion in security assistance to Pakistan, with the then-president accusing Islamabad of “nothing but lies and deceit”.

After Trump made a deal with the Taliban that relied heavily on help from Pakistan, however, he invited Imran to the White House.

Yusuf travelled to Washington as part of a delegation including the head of Inter-Services Intelligence, Gen Faiz Hameed, to discuss the Afghan crisis.

A person familiar with last week’s discussions with Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the conversation about Afghanistan had been “tough” but that securing a political settlement — which regional experts see as unlikely while the Taliban is making gains on the battlefield — could improve the US-Pakistan relationship dramatically.

“There is a lot of effort under way to try to get that [negotiated settlement] process to be a more meaningful process,” said the person.

“This is a moment where, arguably, our interests really align, but it’s really up to them to see what they want to do next.”

Some analysts in Washington have claimed Imran was snubbed because he is seen as an extension of security and military apparatus.

“There is no question of a civil-military disconnect in Pakistan. Let me be categorical: if the Prime Minister had not instructed me and the delegation to be here, we won’t have been here,” said Yusuf, who added that Pakistan had diminished leverage over the Taliban.

During the visit, US broadcaster PBS aired an interview with Khan in which he said the US had “really messed it up” in Afghanistan, adding that Washington had treated Islamabad “more like a hired gun”.

It was one of a recent slew of criticisms aimed at US audiences that struck some American officials as oddly timed given Pakistan’s efforts to secure a reset.

Yusuf said his talk with Sullivan had been “constructive” but that Pakistan would “reconsider” such media appearances if they were backfiring, saying the goal was “not to upset anybody [but to] put very forthrightly Pakistan’s view on the situation”.