KARACHI:
The arrest and extradition of the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) terrorist behind the August 26, 2021, deadly attack on US Marines underscores the importance of the US-Pakistan counterterrorism partnership and could serve as a “building block” to restore bilateral ties.
In an interview with VOA Deewa Services, Lisa Curtis, senior fellow and director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Centre for a New American Security (CNAS), described the development as an important step.
“I think this could be sort of a building block, to reset the US-Pakistan relationship – a very important step – and obviously President [Donald] Trump mentioned it in his statement to the joint session of US Congress,” she noted.
Curtis was referring to capture of Mohammad Sharifullah, also known as “Jafar,” by Pakistani agencies who is accused of masterminding the Abbey Gate bombing at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul which killed 13 American servicemen and roughly 170 Afghans.
President Trump broke the news of Sharifullah’s capture Tuesday night in a speech to Congress on Capitol Hill. “Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity,” Trump said.
The US president hailed Pakistan for helping with Sharifullah’s arrest. “And I want to thank, especially, the government of Pakistan for helping arrest this monster,” the US president said.
Recalling the strained US-Pakistan relations under President Joe Biden, Lisa Curtis dismissed the claims made by Jon Finer – who served as Biden’s principal deputy national security advisor – that Pakistan’s weapons programme was directed at the US. Instead, she pointed out that Pakistan’s strategic focus remained on countering India due to its history of three wars.
“Pakistan’s strategic programmes are driven by the desire to pace with India’s programmes … with India, it has three wars, so this is the opportunity to reset the relationship between the Trump administration and Pakistan.”
Curtis, who served in Donald Trump’s first administration as the senior director for South and Central Asia in the National Security Council, suggested that US foreign policy should recognise the new geopolitical landscape.
She stressed that “we are in a new era”. With no US troops in Afghanistan, the primary concern was now strategic competition with China as it is not in Washington’s interest for Islamabad to become entirely dependent on Beijing.
“The major issue is strategic competition with China, and it’s not in the United States interests for Pakistan to completely dependent on China. We want Pakistan to have options, alternatives,” she emphasised.
While reinstating military aid at levels seen after 9/11 was unlikely, the countries could tap into potential areas of cooperation, particularly in the IT sector, critical minerals and other mutual economic interests.
The senior fellow at the DC think-tank reckoned that while a formal alliance or strategic partnership may not be on the table, fostering a cordial relationship with Pakistan in key areas of mutual benefit remains an option. “There are opportunities they [the US and Pakistan] can cooperate when there is mutual interest in IT sector, critical minerals.”
Regarding Pakistan’s long-standing ties with China, she noted that Islamabad sought balanced relations and did not want to be wholly reliant on Beijing.
“They [Islamabad] would prefer to have a good relationship with the United States, so again that is to the United States’ benefit, so certainly it’s not in the interest of the United States to see Pakistan you know fully dependent on China,” Curtis said.
She added the US did not want to see a worsening of Beijing’s historical ties with Islamabad or even a deepening of the relations. “All I am saying is that the United States does not want to see China’s relations with Pakistan are worsened or deepened, not so deepened where China finds a military outpost in Pakistan,” she added.
