ISLAMABAD: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
8217;s recent visit to South Asian countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, has failed to make a breakthrough in efforts for peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan as the United S
tates continued its hegemonistic approach to impose its policies to solve the sensitive issue, Pakistani analysts said.
Tillerson
8217;s tour had been expected and touted as very crucial to start a process for regional peace as well as Afghanistan
8217;s security situation, but his short stopovers in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and threatening statements against the latter, the oldest and important stakeholder in the issue, disappointed the optimists.
Before stopping in Pakistan for few hours, the US secretary of state
8217;s media talks against Pakistan at the Bagram military base in Afghanistan triggered an anger and disappointment in Pakistani circles, which finally led to a failure in talks between the two sides over bilateral relations, cooperation in the war on terror, and Afghan peace process.
Shireen Mazari, director general of Strategic Studies Institute Islamabad, said that Tillerson
8217;s visit was proven purposeless as it could not bring any positive outcome regarding its agenda about Afgh
an issue and campaign against terrorism. Talking to Xinhua, Mazari said separate statements issued from the two sides at the end of the visit expressed two different stances on the security issue, adding that the outcome of the tour also confirmed that both sides are not on one page and also did not move from their old positions of blaming each other.
Tillerson had a few hours stopove
r in Pakistan on his way to India on Tuesday afternoon, during which he led a delegation in talks with Pakistan
8217;s top civil and military leaders on multiple issues, focusing on cooperation for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.
Peace lovers and local watchers in Pakistan were hyping the Tillerson
8217;s visit as a great opportunity to restart bilateral cooperation for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, but Tillerson
8217;s statements before and after his Pakistan visit has disappointed optimists and even confused the situation further.
Tillerson
8217;s statement in Afghanistan that the United S
tates will work with Pakistan under the condition whether it takes action against the terrorist groups or not was seriously criticised in Pakistan, and country
8217;s Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani rejected it and said he (Tillerson) is behaving like a vicer
oy, a higher designation of British rule in the Indian subcontinent. Moreover, during a joint press conference along with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi, Tillerson once again blamed Pakistan for its “inaction” against terrorist organisations and reiterated Donald Trump
8217;s call for the “country to do more to address a growing problem of terrorism within its borders, which can lead to a threat to Pakistan
8217;s own stability”.
Rebuffing Tillerson
8217;s statement in India, Professor Saeed Chaudhry, Director of Islamabad Council for International Affairs, suggested to the United S
tates not to worry about Pakistan
8217;s stability but its failure in the 16-year long war in Afghanistan.
Chaudhry believed that Tillerson
8217;s statements against Pakistan, who is a very important stakeholder in Afgh
an issue, can only amuse a third party India, which is one of the United States’ biggest arms buyers, but cannot be helpful to solve the issue.
“The biggest problem with the United S
tates is that it is not ready to listen to any wise and reality-based suggestions which don’t fit its hegemonistic policies,” said Chaudhry.
Published in Daily Times, October 29th 2017.