The Minute Mirror had a very strong editorial on Biden’s comment regarding Pakistan. I thought it is inappropriate to title the editorial ‘Shut up, Biden’. But the newsroom let it go. They said it represents the sentiments of the people of Pakistan.
US President Biden visited Pakistan when serving as Obama’s vice president, and he was viewed as Pakistan’s buddy back then. He has stated several times that he is well familiar with Pakistan. From 2008 to 2012, Biden may have visited Pakistan on multiple times and publicly stated his desire to see our democratic system strengthened. To fulfil this aim, he also drafted a proposal for financial aid to Pakistan with Republican Senator Lugar. Following that, Biden was elected as the United States vice president alongside Obama. The proposal he prepared later became known as the Kerry-Lugar bill.
For various reasons, US President Biden’s remarks regarding Pakistan astound me. First and foremost, Biden is one of the most senior US politicians, having been elected to the US Senate for decades. Second, Biden has led the Senate committee that oversees the United States’ connections with other countries, implying that he is familiar with diplomatic etiquette and the complexities of foreign relations.
Biden became a household name in Pakistan after the K-L bill. The goal of this bill was to make our elected government more powerful than other institutions in our country. However, the administration, led by Asif Ali Zardari and Yusuf Raza Gilani, was compelled to reject the proposed bill. We have not forgotten the raging debates on TV shows of those days.
Then our foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, hurried to Washington and made way for revisions to the planned bill that would bring comfort to our security agencies, and then resistance.
That was a watershed moment.
Following that, Biden began to play an essential part in shaping the strategy for Afghanistan’s ongoing battle. While serving in the aforementioned capacity, he frequently questioned Pakistan-US collaboration in the context of the Afghan war. Obama campaigned on the promise of ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was successful in removing his soldiers from Iraq after being elected. However, he felt he had no choice in Afghanistan.
America’s military leadership maintains that additional soldiers and advanced weaponry are needed to win the fight in Afghanistan. Biden vehemently opposed the proposal and was often seen saying that the “true problem” is Pakistan, which should be brought under “control.” In this situation, if financial assistance is ineffective, economic pressure on Pakistan should be strengthened. If we are unable to control the “terrorism” directed at us, America will deploy drones to demolish the “terrorist sanctuaries” along the Pakistan-Afghan border. To cut a long story short, its confrontation with Afghanistan is sufficient.
Because of his long-standing animus toward Pakistan, he never even had a formal goodwill call with our former prime minister Imran Khan following his election. This “boycott” fuelled the foreign conspiracy. After carefully reading the speech by Biden several times, one can draw this impression: our nuclear program is not the real problem; the real message is that Pakistan as a country is moving towards chaos. Its parties are not looking for ways of stability together.
Biden calls Pakistan “the most dangerous country” in the world, and our nuclear programme as purportedly lacking “cohesion”. When Trump lost the presidential election, his supporters refused to accept the outcome. They assaulted their parliament. Despite such a daring attack on the American Parliament, we did not raise concerns about America’s nuclear programme, despite the fact that it claims to be the world’s superpower. But, because of his deep animosity towards Pakistan, Biden perceived the rising political hypocrisy in our country in a different light.
After carefully reading the speech by Biden several times, one can draw this impression: our nuclear program is not the real problem; the real message is that Pakistan as a country is moving towards chaos. Its parties are not looking for ways of stability together. Biden calls Pakistan “the most dangerous country” in the world, and our nuclear programme as purportedly lacking “cohesion”. When Trump lost the presidential election, his supporters refused to accept the outcome. They assaulted their parliament. Despite such a daring attack on the American Parliament, we did not raise concerns about America’s nuclear programme, despite the fact that it claims to be the world’s superpower. But, because of his deep animosity towards Pakistan, Biden perceived the rising political hypocrisy in our country in a different light.
