Donald Trump started the New Year with a continuation of his twitterrhea, alternating swipes at American citizens with conducting foreign policy via playground taunts. In a quick series of statements, Trump managed to endanger international relationships, American forces abroad, and Iranian protesters.
Trump’s first tweet of the year came in the form of picking at a relationship that’s both delicate, and vital.
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!
The nation that hosts the primary supply line for NATO forces in Afghanistan had an immediate response, with the foreign minister starting off by calling Trump’s statement fake news.
Khawaja M. Asif
@KhawajaMAsif
We will respond to President Trump's tweet shortly inshallah...Will let the world know the truth..difference between facts & fiction..
Trump’s accusations reopened barely healed-over wounds in the partnership between the US and Pakistan that the Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir-Khan didn’t hesitate to name.
Pak Minister Defence
@PakMnstrDefence
Pak as anti-terror ally has given free to US: land & air communication, military bases & intel cooperation that decimated Al-Qaeda over last 16 yrs, but they have given us nothing but invective & mistrust. They overlook cross-border safe havens of terrorists who murder Pakistanis.
The result of Trump’s statement is another ally less likely to work with the US—in an area where they’re desperately needed. And Pakistan was far from the only foreign policy disaster for this very young year.
The relationship between the US and Pakistan has been particularly brittle since a 2011 incident in which US planes and helicopters crossed the Pakistan border in pursuit of Taliban fighters. The incursion resulted in Pakistan halting supplies to NATO forces and expulsion of US forces from Pakistani bases—until the situation was dealt with through months of careful negotiations by Hillary Clinton.
Trump’s Twitter attack seems to have been successful in unwinding that diplomatic effort.
In a strongly worded response, Khawaja Asif, Pakistan's foreign minister, said Trump is trying to blame Pakistan for its failure to win the war in Afghanistan.
"Trump is disappointed at the US defeat in Afghanistan and that is the only reason he is flinging accusations at Pakistan," Asif told the Pakistani TV network Geo on Monday.
"We have already told the US that we will not do more, so Trump's 'no more' does not hold any importance."
The tweet also resulted in a summons and dressing-down for the US ambassador. Pakistan was once regarded as American’s “most allied ally” in the region, but a continuation of the same rugged terrain that makes parts of Afghanistan so difficult for US forces makes Pakistan’s mountain regions a ready refuge for militants—a refuge often reinforced by Pakistan’s complex internal politics. The result has also made Pakistan a convenient excuse for issues in Afghanistan.
However, Trump’s sudden interest in Pakistan is less related to the war effort and more directly connected to protests that erupted there after he announced that the United States was moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. That news generated both street protests and official statements of opposition in Pakistan. Pakistan was among the 128 nations that voted to condemn the US move.
Pakistan’s GPD has more than doubled in the last decade to over 300 billion a year. It’s unclear that even a complete cut-off of US military investments would have a significant impact—or that those investments would not be readily replaced by some other interested party.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump also tossed in tweets concerning the protests in Iran.
Trump’s intervention is exactly the sort of statement experts had warned would be the worst thing to do in terms of providing the protesters space to be effective without making it easy for the government there to finger them as puppets of the west.
And Trump, of course, is rushing to take credit for potential talks between North and South Korea. …
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Talks that seem mainly aimed at cutting the United States out of the relationship.
Beyond a New Year’s declaration by North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, that he would move to the mass production of nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles in 2018 lies a canny new strategy to initiate direct talks with South Korea in the hope of driving a wedge into its seven-decade alliance with the United States.
Mr. Kim, perhaps sensing the simmering tension between President Trump and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, called for an urgent dialogue between the two Koreas before the opening of the Winter Olympics in the South next month.
While Trump is claiming credit for this result, what Kim is looking to get out of it is international recognition of North Korea as a nuclear power and a weakening of South Korea’s willingness to act as a base for Trump in actions against the North.
In other words, Kim is going for what he wanted all along … and Donald Trump is taking credit.