The mother of all betrayals

Dr. Jassim Taqui

DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic Studies

Islamabad, September 29, 2021: In yet another twist, 22 US senators combined to present a bill jointly supported by the Republicans and the Democrats to punish Pakistan for its alleged role in Afghanistan before and after the fall of Kabul and in the Taliban offensive in Panjshir Valley.

The proposed legislation requires the secretary of state, in consultation with the secretary of defense and director of national intelligence, to submit a report on ”entities” providing support to the Taliban to appropriate congressional committees within 180 days.

Evidently, the Joe Biden administration is planning to impose sanctions against Pakistan that would cripple the already highly sanctioned nation. It is also expected that the IMF, the World Bank, and the FATF would play their role in the new sanction regime.

Suddenly the Joe Biden administration realized that it was cheated in the battle of wits and strategic planning. It is shocking to the core by the Chinese decision to accept the Taliban in the CPEC.

For Pakistan, this is the mother of all betrayals since the hybrid ruling regime played a pioneering role in convincing the Taliban to hold talks that produced the Doha peace agreement in 2020.

Ostensibly, the Joe Biden administration is planning to scapegoat Pakistan for its strategic mistakes both in starting the 20-year old offensive on Afghanistan and the exit strategy. The latter was a total mess that created military and security vacuums which were smartly used by the Taliban to control Afghanistan in a short period of three weeks of fighting in which 300,000 Afghan soldiers surrendered to the Taliban without firing a single bullet.

Unfortunately, this adhocism is wasting the good work by the US Embassy in Islamabad including those of Ambassadors David Hale, Paul Jones, and charge d’ affairs a.i. Angela Aggeler in strengthening the bilateral relations.