According to Reuters, nuclear armed Pakistan “is developing long-range ballistic missile capabilities that eventually could allow it to strike targets well beyond South Asia, making it an ’emerging threat’ to the United States.” Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer identified the nuclear-armed states with missiles capable of reaching the United States: Russia, North Korea and China. And Pakistan “is striving to join” them. The Brookings Institution puts forward the idea of appeasing Pakistan so as to not inflame it to escalate, but history demonstrates that appeasement never works with states that advance jihad. Any “close ties” between Pakistan and America were always based on falsehoods to begin with. Pakistan was playing a double game, steadily advancing terrorism as a state funder.
Pakistan is also as virulently against Israel as a Jewish nation, as it is against India for being a Hindu nation. Pakistan has become increasingly problematic and threatening to free societies. As such, the US updated a travel advisory for Americans considering visiting the country:
Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting transportation hubs, markets, shopping malls, military installations, airports, universities, tourist attractions, schools, hospitals, places of worship, and government facilities. Terrorists have targeted U.S. diplomats and diplomatic facilities in the past.
Pakistan has escalated now to the point where it seeks to join Russia, North Korea and China with the capability of striking the US with nuclear armed missiles, while helping to destabilize the region and fueling the Axis of Evil.
In response, the U.S. has levied sanctions. “Led By Russia & China, Pakistan Eyes “Elite League” Of Group That Can Hit U.S With Nuclear-Armed Missiles,” by Ritu Sharma, Eurasian Times, December 21, 2024:
From sending its armada to support Islamabad during the 1971 war against India to sanctioning a Pakistani state-owned enterprise trying to develop long-range ballistic missiles that threaten Washington, the US-Pakistan relations have come full circle.
As per the Pentagon’s assessment, Pakistan is striving to join a small list of adversaries – Russia, North Korea, and China that can strike the United States territory. Islamabad’s sophisticated missile development program that brings territory outside South Asia within its striking range is inimical to the interests of the United States.
This is the first time that the US has sanctioned a Pakistani state-owned enterprise tied to missile development. Sanctions have been imposed on four Pakistani entities, including the state-owned National Development Complex (NDC), for their role in advancing Pakistan’s missile program.
The NDC has worked to acquire items in furtherance of Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile program – including special vehicle chassis intended to be used as launch support equipment for ballistic missiles and missile testing equipment. As per the US assessment, the NDC is responsible for Pakistan’s development of ballistic missiles, including the Shaheen-series ballistic missiles….
The four “entities” named in American sanctions for contributing to Pakistan’s Ballistic Missile Program are: The National Development Complex (NDC), located in Islamabad; Akhtar and Sons Private Limited, Affiliates International, and Rockside Enterprise–located in Karachi. The US Executive Order “targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.”
Pakistan’s reaction to American sanctions was an expected one. Similarly to Iran, it downplayed its nuclear intentions in a statement…..
Pakistan considers the US decision to impose sanctions on NDC and three commercial entities as unfortunate and biased. Pakistan’s strategic capabilities are meant to defend its sovereignty and preserve peace and stability in South Asia. The latest installment of sanctions defies the objective of peace and security by aiming to accentuate military asymmetries. Such policies have dangerous implications for strategic stability of our region and beyond.
With a nuclear Pakistan, America must act. Ironically, The Guardian called for peaceful diplomacy with Pakistan in 2017, of which it accused Trump of ‘shunning’. In the words of The Guardian: “attempts to strong-arm Islamabad could push it deeper into a growing alliance with China and Russia, and lead to more instability.” Yet, after four years with an appeasing Biden regime, Pakistan has escalated in threat. Trump had it right when he considered a “harsher stance” to deter Pakistan for its support of jihadist groups in Afghanistan.
Appeasement never works with jihadists but leftists are immune to accepting this reality.
Jacob Kovalio says
Pakistan [the Land of the Pure (Jihadis)] – from its creation in 1947- as an artificial -two rump failed entity till the founding of Bangladesh by (as expected, subsequently murdered Mujibur Rahman)- has always been a cauldron of Islamism (even under Benazir Bhutto who paid with her life for trying to change things somewhat). Today it’s a brutal, racist, mysoginist, failed chaotic Islamist state armed with nuclear weapons the technology for which AQK [Abdel Qader Khan] stole from the stupid Dutch. Politically it is a full fledged Chinese dependency serving Xi’s imperialism in various ways beginning with the Gwadar base on the Arabian Sea and , as your excellent piece indicates a member of what I call the BIMPAT [Beijing/Islamabad/Moscow/Pyongyang/Ankara/Tehran] Plus [South Africa/Brazil/Colombia/Venezuela] totalitarian, Jihadi-Leftist anti-Western, anti-American antisemitic Axis of Evil.It is, indeed, beyond high time for the West (especially the US, which for decades pathetically insisted on considering it a “democracy”- to treat Pakistan as the existential stratetic danger it has always been.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Pakistan has only two things of value to offer China, which is why Beijing even bothers w/ them at all: it’s a corridor to the Arabian Sea. If China could actually get a working corridor, w/ roads, gas pipelines and so on, it could get all the energy it imports from Iran, Qatar and other countries, and get it directly w/o having ships go through the Straits of Malacca and other countries, where many resent Chicom hegemony in the region. The other being of course their rivalry w/ India, which keeps Delhi from paying adequate attention to Beijing
As far as the US goes, I wonder whether the foreign policy establishment has caught up and woken up to the fact that Pakistan is not an ally. It’s actually a good ally of Iran, and when Imran Khan was prime minister, he had a goal of unifying Saudi Arabia and Iran, which is something the Beijing seemingly managed to do when Biden rebuffed the Saudis. The incoming National Security apparatus should do a complete revision of who our allies as well as our enemies are, since they’re not who they think they are. They’d have a better chance of flipping Russia than they would flipping countries like Pakistan or Turkey
skeptiker says
Es war ein Fehler, mit Rußland wieder den Kalten Krieg zu beginnen. Unser Feind ist der weltweit grassierende Islamismus und Dschihadismus. Rußland unter Putin war bereit in die EU und die NATO einzutreten. Stattdessen bedrohen uns angeblich “Verbündete” wie die Türkei aggressiv kämpferisch und schaden dem Ansehen der westlichen Wertegemeinschaft. Es bleibt dabei, der Islam ist mit Demokratie nicht kompatibel. Schon gar nicht, wenn er von Islamisten wie Erdogan angeführt wird.