Can Imran Deliver where Others Erred and Failed?
By Karamatullah K. Ghori
Toronto, Canada
The Pakistan Foreign Service mandarins take pride in grooming a leader and dressing him up for projection on the global stage. I can vouch for it because I have been in this choreograph business, too.
Anyone doubting it should look at the way Imran’s persona has emerged on the global stage in no time, creating an impact beyond anyone’s expectations. But this shouldn’t, in any sense, be interpreted as belittling the charisma and gravitas of Imran. To his own credit, and surprise, he has discovered that he has a much greater potential to stalk the international stage with the aplomb and dignity of a seasoned hero than he can turn around the fortunes of Pakistan’s moribund economy.
Imran’s upcoming official visit to the US, beginning July 20, is an unmistakable evidence that he has arrived on the global stage as a player; nay, not just a player but a major player. His progression from a mega player of cricket, in yesteryear, to a mega player of leadership, is a success story by any stretch of imagination.
For a Pakistani leader, invitation from the US President to visit him in the Oval Office has, traditionally, been deemed in the Pakistani lexicon as recognition of his leadership beyond any doubt. Invitation for a state visit is a dream rarely and sparingly realized.
In all the 70-plus years of being an ‘ally’ of the lone global super-power, only two Pakistani Heads of State have had the honor of visiting Washington for a state visit. Interestingly, both—FM Ayub Khan and General Ziaul Haq—happened to be soldiers.
That curious fact of history may irk some of our puffed- up politicos and their mealy-mouthed henchmen who never tire of blowing their democratic trumpets.
However, given the genesis of Pakistan-US relations, it’s quite apposite. The relationship took off in the early years of President Eisenhower because his Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, was infatuated with the prowess and disciplined skills of the Pakistan armed forces and decided that this country could be in the front trenches with US in its Cold War with Russia, then known as USSR.
What a welcome missive from the White House means to the image-building of a Pakistani leader, besides giving him an ego massage, is, again, something to which the testimony of Foreign Service mandarins has the value of gold-standard. Our diplomatic missions in Washington and New York have been routinely bombarded with commandments from the high-and-mighty of Islamabad to seek an official invite from the White House for ‘their man.’
Imagine the chagrin and utter dismay of a pompous fox like Zardari that he was never favored with that coveted invite, even for an official visit much less a state one. This was despite a Machiavellian deal-broker like Hussain Haqqanipresiding over our embassy in Washington.
So, hats off to Imran Khan that he has received the ‘honor’ within his first year at the helm of Pakistan. And he has been invited by Donald Trump who has never missed a chance to berate Pakistan in his petrifying tweets. Trump is also the president who took pride in not only cutting off all military and economic aid to Pakistan but has adamantly refused to part with Pakistan’s legitimate and fair share in Coalition Support Funds—more than $ 800 million owed to Pakistan for its logistical support in the unending war-on-terror.
But President Trump is now keen to play host to the leader of his-maligned Pakistan. Why?
The short answer is Afghanistan. When he was on the campaign trail, Trump had castigated Obama and Bush for dragging US into the war against Afghanistan and vowed to end the nightmare. However, he changed his stance once he got into office. He tried the tack of beefing up US military involvement on the Afghan soil, boasted, to finish off the Taliban but ultimately learned that he, like his predecessors, was chasing a chimera.
Now, Trump covets nothing more than to enter the 2020 presidential race with the title of peacemaker in Afghanistan under his belt. But he knows that he can’t make much headway with the Taliban—who have the upper hand on the ground after 18 years of the combined military might of NATO arrayed against them—without Pakistan’s input. That, in short, explains his frantic invitation to Imran Khan.
How much leeway Pakistan still has with the Taliban is debatable, albeit its clout with them was, once, formidable. The Americans could still be laboring in their assessment of the old era when Pakistan and Taliban were supposed to be on the same page.
Imran’s diplomatic skills would be tested more in what should be his greater priority to convince Trump that the escalating US-India camaraderie—at Pakistan’s expense—would be a dangerous undertaking.
Another task taxing Imran Khan’s still developing diplomatic skills would be to sell to his American hosts the idea that his ‘Naya Pakistan’ would no longer be at the beck-and-call of erstwhile hectoring bosses in Washington.
In simple parlance, Pakistan would be loath to be content with a transactional relationship with Washington. Instead, under Imran Khan this country demands a relationship of dignity and mutual respect, no matter how unequal the two may be in power equation. Pakistan’s founding father, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, had dreamed of a Pakistan that would always keep its head high in the comity of nations and conduct itself with self-dignity and self-assurance.
Puny leaders, nay petty businessmen masquerading as leaders, like Zardari and Nawaz, sold their nation’s dignity down the drain for their coffers to be filled. Even a self-styled commando like Musharraf, who boasted to be intimidated by none, served Pakistan and its self-respect and dignity on a platter to his American masters in return for their recognition of his autocratic rule.
But Imran Khan is cut from a different cloth, in the mold of M.A. Jinnah and Pakistan’s first dignified PM Liaquat Ali Khan. It’s his call, and burden, to put Pakistan back on the rails. The world’s sole Muslim nuclear power must never again allow itself to be taken advantage of. Imran Khan has his work cut out on this visit to Washington. His Naya Pakistan should gain the respect it deserves. Is he up to the task? Can he deliver where others before him erred and failed so miserably because they were carpet baggers and mendicants? Only time will tell. -K_K_ghori@hotmail.com
(The writer is a former ambassador and career diplomat)
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