Pakistan Hopes to Profit from Iran's Discomfiture

Pakistani rulers are taking duplicitous leaves out of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's playbook.

- SHUJAAT ALI QUADRI

They are whipping up the "Islamic solidarity" rhetoric to appease public frenzy at home and at the same time dealing with powers that are using their country for present and future purposes.

Interestingly, the civilian leadership in Pakistan, like Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Defence Minister Khwaja Asif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and even Pakistan People's Party joint chief, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, are functioning as a vocal front of the Pakistan Army, which is steering the country in every literal sense. They are emitting signals of Muslim solidarity with Iran and a larger Muslim world, exactly as Erdogan has been doing all these years. But, like Erdogan and his coterie, the real rulers of Pakistan—Army Generals—are busy cutting deals that would suit their interests and fill coffers of both politicians and people in uniform.

Pakistan's self-decorated General, now Field Marshal, Syed Asim Munir is presently touring the United States. US President Donald Trump, who had to leave the crucial G7 meeting midway to attend to emergencies emanating from the Israel-Iran military confrontation, surprisingly invited Munir for a closed-door meeting at the White House. Besides Munir, some senior figures of US's Central Command (Centcom) were at the gathering.

This was a moment when the US was all but about to enter the battle fray alongside Israel to cripple Iranian nuclear facilities and enforce a regime change. Can Munir's presence at the White House with Trump be similar to that of Afghan Mujahideen leaders (later Taliban) with then US President Ronald Reagan? Mujahideens were used by the US to checkmate the Soviets in Afghanistan; Pakistani Generals could be used to oust Ayatollahs in Iran.