Trump’s South Asia strategy singles out Pakistan

Background

By 2017 the war in Afghanistan had become a stalemate, and the new Trump administration was reviewing whether to stay. US frustration with Pakistan over the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network had been building for years, while Pakistan argued that it had suffered more from terrorism than any other country and that militants attacking Pakistan operated from Afghan territory.

What happened

In a televised address from Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia on 21 August 2017⁶, Trump said US forces would remain in Afghanistan without a fixed timetable^1,2. He said the United States could no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe havens for terrorist organisations, and that it had been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars while Pakistan was housing the very terrorists the US was fighting^2,3. He acknowledged that Pakistan had been a valuable partner and had suffered from terrorism, but said that had to change. He also called for India to help more in Afghanistan, particularly in economic assistance¹.

Pakistan reacted sharply. On 24 August the National Security Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, rejected the allegations, said Pakistan would not be made a scapegoat for the failures in Afghanistan, and called on US forces to act against Pakistani Taliban sanctuaries in Afghanistan, while expressing a willingness to keep working with Washington^4,5. The Senate in Islamabad passed resolutions against the new policy.

Why it mattered

The speech made public a tougher line that had been forming in Washington and paired it with an embrace of India that Pakistan regarded as hostile to its interests. It set the stage for the suspension of security assistance in January 2018.

Legacy

Within little more than a year the administration's priority had shifted to negotiating with the Taliban, for which it needed Pakistan's help, and the tone of relations softened markedly in 2019.