By Muhammad Usama Khalid
In a press briefings, the US Department of State’s spokesperson Mathew Miller was being asked by one of the journalists that since US has usually ostensibly claimed that Pakistan is historically a long-term ally of the States, but despite such so-called assertive stance the latter is occasionally being subjected to the US sanctions on its defense production projects.
In response, Miller said that though there is no doubt that Pakistan is a longstanding ally of the US, the US sanctions shows that any such relationship could not hinder US from following the policies it deemed necessary for its national interest. He further clarified that though US-Pakistan has a long standing partnership but there are still some points where US has disagreements.
However, US duplicity, when it comes to dealing with Pakistan vis a vis India, is quite visible. Pakistan and India both emerged as the declaratory Nuclear Weapon States in 1998 with a few days gap. Both the South Asian states received harsh punitive sanctions, but India received different treatment as compared to Pakistan. Indian activities have always been ignored and neglected by the US.
On September 12, 2024, US Department of State issued a press release on its website revealing the new sanctions on three Chinese and one Pakistani entity as well the sanctioning of one Chinese national named Luo Dongmei. This sanction has been imposed under the Executive Order 13382 in reference to Missile Sanction Laws which prohibit the proliferation of WMDs and their delivery means. According to the press release this has been done in order to prohibit Pakistan from pursuing the long-range ballistic missile program.
Currently, Pakistan has intermediate range ballistic missiles. The latest in this regard is the Shaheen – III with the stated range of 2750 km of range which covers the complete land mass of not only mainland India, but covers its offshore Nicobar and Andaman Islands as well. Consequently, analyzing from the security angle of threat perception, it could be concluded that Pakistan should not have to aspire for longer range options, but it is not how things work in the international political arena where states are ambitiously aiming for more and more power beyond the certain limit.
However, this is not the first time such action has been taken against Pakistan’s defense program; if critically evaluated, several such cases of such biased unilateral actions are in record. In April this year, similar sanctions on the same suspects had been imposed by the US claiming that the sanctioned entities are assisting Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile program. Out of four entities, three were Chinese and the fourth one was Belarussian that were targeted.
US duplicity gets exposed when it comes to Indian development of long-range Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) programs. India currently possesses ballistic missiles with a range up to 7000 km which not only covers the whole of China’s entire landmass but also threatens the European and Western hemisphere. The US has never imposed any sanctions on India for carrying out such aggressive developments, instead the US has always been the generous ally of India. India has been granted the status of the Major Defence Partner of US in the region to counter Chinese threat for which India has received the several strategic deals such as LEMAO, BECA, COMCASA and the most vital among them is the waiver of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG); the same NSG which was being established in the aftermath of the Indian covert nuclear tests of 1974, in order to prevent the future theft of Nuclear fissile material.
On the other hand, Pakistan has always been subjected to the biased attitude of the US. Pakistan has almost always helped the US whenever it required it. In the late 1970s and throughout 1980s, Pakistan provided the intelligence support and the on-ground resources to the US backed Afghan militias commonly known as ‘Mujahidin’, who were the frontline fighting force against the Soviet Army. Additionally, after 9/11 US invaded Afghanistan, Pakistan provided US though not manpower, but airstrips, airspace and intelligence. The consequences of the both mentioned assistance by Pakistan is having a horrific implication on the social and political spectrum of Pakistan.
The jihadi fundamentalist mindset was groomed not only in the religiously Islamic seminaries, but through the school literature as well. Since then, Pakistan shifted from the moderate Islamic republic to the ultra-fundamentalist Islamic republic. Thousands of people have lost their lives since the start of the War on Terror (WoT) in Pakistan because the entities that have fled Afghanistan, came to Pakistan and established their networks and began their terror activities from and in here as well.
It is quite high time for Pakistan to realize that in this power-hungry world of politics, it has to choose its friends and allies very wisely because alliances can be formed and reformed, but calling someone a friend requires a lot of stamina and courage to fulfill its commitments. Pakistan has always proved to be the all-weather friend of the United States, not an ally, while the United States has always been an unfaithful partner.
Author: Muhammad Usama Khalid – Research Officer at Balochistan Think Tank Network (BTTN), Quetta.
(The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights).