United States President Donald Trump especially thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and “my favourite” Field Marshal Asim Munir on Monday for their efforts in achieving peace in Gaza, among many other world leaders.
Trump thanks PM Shehbaz and ‘my favourite’ Field Marshal Asim Munir for Gaza peace efforts
I might expand on this tomorrow, but it’s telling that Dr. Lalchand finds all this quite amusing—Pakistan back again with a begging bowl. I, on the other hand, see it as something closer to a post-Pahalgam pivot. Perhaps India is underestimating Pakistan’s deep instinct for adaptation, especially as the region continues to drift in unpredictable directions.
I do think there is a large section of PTI supporters who are comparing Imran Khan’s dignity and refusal to kowtow with ‘Cherry Blossoms’ deep rich polish. This is a major political landmine that PML is happily standing on. Things are going to get really bad now, izzat ki sawal and all that.
On a slightly unrelated topic. When Trump announced tariffs on India and I mentioned how most of it is meaningless by the nature of the exports.
The first reports of the gem trade being re-routed through countries with lowest tariff brackets coming in.
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/diamond-exports-to-us-shrink-by-over-50-record-surge-to-uae-and-uk-shows-data-10307339/?ref=newlist_hp
I still believe the India tarriffs are temporary and a ‘deal’ is a couple of months away or so.
Regarding Pakistan’s “pivot”, I mean the only notable thing is that its been let out of the post-AFPAK war penalty box. And there are overt humiliating costs associated here. After all, its not like the US was going to simply allow Pakistan to collapse economically, so the IMF bailouts were going to happen anyway, Drumpf just got Munir and Sharif to tapdance to his whims for doing so.
The market has started to price this in but I don’t think so. I feel the US-India tariffs are pretty meaningless at this point, only shrimp are affected and those can be re-routed to someone else. Apart from the some orthodox jews everyone eats shrimp.
They are a pole across the road which the Indians are happy to duck under.
The Americans point to the pole and encourage Pakistan to bomb Afghans (Bagram? Taliban revenge?). They point to the pole and say Trump is forcing Putin to stop the war.
It is a bright and fancy pole now. Let it stay, we too can point to the pole and develop strategic autonomy.
* textile is the one sector actually hit and they do not have an easy out except diversification into other markets.
Vir saghvi at his sarcastic best in print today. very funny indeed.
Pakistan made chamchagiri its foreign policy — the brown man bowing before white sahib
When you rule a banana republic, it’s best to eat up the bananas while you still can.
https://theprint.in/opinion/sharp-edge/pakistan-sycophancy-shehbaz-sharif-trump/2764009/
It still remains to be seen what the ‘post-pahalgam pivot’ buys Pakistan in terms of longterm or even medium term stability.
The challenges in Balochistan, NWFP still remain, especially with Pakistan’s attempts to fight “cross border” terrorism against Afghanistan sure to poison an already poisonous faultline.
Its striking to what degree the Indian policy towards terrorism and punitive military action has been almost copy-pasted by PakMil against Afghanistan. Down to the rhetoric and even press releases about Afghan military attending funerals for deceased ‘wanted men’.
The Pakistani commentariat are on a noticeable power trip about ‘putting Afghans in their place’.
The Pakistani ‘attitude’ towards Afghans strikes me as strongly racist. The sense that somehow Afghans are beneath them. Over the last few decades, it seems that Pakistan has carelessly poisoned multiple generations of Afghans against them. This is incredibly dangerous for them. Nukes can’t help Pakistan deal with Afghans.
Of course, there is a military superiority orders of magntiude greater – Afg doesn’t have any sort of air force for example, but I honestly do not think Pakistan can afford an enraged hostile Afghanistan along its vulnerable western frontiers – not in Balochistan, nor further north.
And no amount of short term American aid is going to magically solve this problem. Let’s see this somehow celebrated Pakistani adaptability and ‘pivoting’ capabilities deal with Afghanistan. After all, simply bending over and saying yes to Trump isn’t really a masterstroke.
Pakistanis are probably #1 is self hatred and looking elsewhere for recognition! Talk about existential crisis..
North Western Indians are second only to Pakistanis..
https://youtu.be/5KGpw7FMa3s?si=MWc0jk7eevjXA6D5
What did North-West Indians do? Are you referring to the Khalistanis?
Anyway.
Khwaja Asif – the fountainhead of online content for Indians to enjoy.
https://x.com/i/status/1978791398058107021