This is how bad things are for a declining America under Joe Biden: last May, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar, cautioned his country “against sacrificing its strategic partnership with China to maintain a cordial relationship with the United States.” Now, China considers Pakistan to be its “all-weather ally” and announced last year that it was rapidly expanding its Belt and Road Initiative with Pakistan “for regional connectivity.”
In his congratulatory message to the ‘Decade of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’ (CPEC) celebration event held in Islamabad on Monday, Xi said the USD 60 billion CPEC infrastructure programme is an “important pioneering project” of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Pakistan is also improving relations with another foe of the U.S.: Iran. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi visited Pakistan, aiming “to mend ties after tit-for-tat military strikes this year.” The two countries announced an “increase bilateral trade to $10bn a year over the next five years, from the current $2bn.” The significant deal prompted America to warn Pakistan about sanctions in its dealings with Iran. Yet Biden is an infamously weak leader who has enabled Iran, so how seriously will the American threat be taken? Under the Biden regime, a declining America merely watches as the world realigns against its interests.
“Cost of doing business with Iran? US warns Pakistan of sanctions risk”, by Abud Hussain, Al Jazeera, April 24, 2024:
Islamabad, Pakistan – The United States has warned Pakistan of the risk of sanctions after it promised greater security and economic cooperation with Iran during a visit by President Ebrahim Raisi.
The first Iranian president to visit the South Asian country in eight years, Raisi concluded his three-day trip on Wednesday as the neighbouring countries said they would increase bilateral trade to $10bn a year over the next five years, from the current $2bn.
Pakistan’s foreign office said the two sides additionally agreed to cooperate in the energy sector including trade in electricity, power transmission lines and the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project.
The gas pipeline project has languished for more than a decade because of political turmoil and international sanctions.
The US Department of State on Tuesday cautioned the Pakistani government of engaging in business deals with Iran.
“We advise anyone considering business deals with Iran to be aware of the potential risk of sanctions. But ultimately, the government of Pakistan can speak to their own foreign policy pursuits,” spokesperson Vedant Patel said during a news briefing.….
somehistory says
What good is a ‘warning’ when nothing happens if the ‘warning’ is ignored?
iran was under sanctions, but bo gave them pallets of cash. iran was/is under sanctions, but biden keeps giving them billions to spend on their terror operations.
pakistan gets better acquainted with iran, gets sanctioned….and then how much will biden give pakistan?
Keys says
$10 billion deal!
Maybe throw in an atomic weapon or two on the side to deal with Israel.
War is deceit.
Jerome from Layton says
As sson as I read the headline, Khan and the nukes came to mind.
Tony Rice says
I don’t think China and Iran are sensible partners for anyone ?
OLD GUY says
World leaders all pretend they are such great diplomats and friends as they stab each other in the back. They all love parading around looking important and impressive. If you think Make America Great Again is a bad thing, you better be aware that China wants to keep China Great as does Russia and most others. I don’t know of any leader of a country that want’s to make their country un-great again.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Yet, the US State Department to this day pretends/believes that Pakistan is an “ally”. Truth is that no government of Pakistan, be it a Sharief or a Bhutto-Zardari or an Imran Khan – would ever ally w/ the US, b’cos the support of neighboring muslim countries like Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, et al are more important. But who’ll explain that to the US government?
OLD GUY says
CORRECT