Pakistan's most important partner is China not US: Analyst

Pakistan's most important partner is China rather than the United States and Beijing allows Islamabad to exercise an independent foreign policy, an independent political analyst and peace activist in London says.

Writer and journalist Adam Garrie said in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday that Pakistan also continues to develop good ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran who now share a common enemy in the form of the United States.

Garrie made the remarks when asked if Pakistan is responsible for America's failure in Afghanistan, and why US President Donald Trump is mad at Pakistan.

Trump said in his first tweet of 2018 that Washington had "foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years."

"And they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools," wrote the US president on Monday. "They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!"

Pakistan summoned the US ambassador over Trump's controversial remarks. Ambassador David Hale was summoned to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry to discuss Trump's statement.

During the meeting, Pakistan lodged a strongly-worded protest and asked for clarification of Trump's comments.

PressTV-Pakistan summons US envoy over Trump remarks

Pakistan summons US ambassador over President Donald Trump's remarks in which he accused Islamabad of sheltering terrorists.

Garrie said, “The only people responsible for America’s failure in Afghanistan are the Americans themselves, who went into Afghanistan in 2001 without any real mandate at all. It was a total disaster from the beginning.”

“They said that they were trying to hunt Bin Laden even though the Taliban said in 2001 that they would hand Bin Laden over to the United States if certain protocols were reached and Pakistani authorities would have almost certainly cooperated and so the entire premise for the US presence in Afghanistan was forced to begin with and Bin Laden is of course long gone and according to the assassinated former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, Bin Laden was dead long before the US admitted that he was,” Garrie said.

“What’s really going on is that the United States wants the very rich minerals that lie below the surface of Afghanistan.  It is a very wealthy country below the surface and because of this America has made it a very poor country, and a very dangerous country above the surface,” he added.

“What we are seeing though because of America’s foolishness which has been augmented by Donald Trump’s so-called troop surge in Afghanistan is that a new alliance for peace is forming in the region. It has been led by the efforts of China, by Russia and by Pakistan and by Iran, all of whom want the United Stated gone from Afghanistan and all of whom want to see stability within the region both for security reasons, and of course because economically One Belt One Road, the Chinese trading initiative, will benefit greatly from a smooth roads through Afghanistan which will link many countries including Tajikistan, Pakistan, Iran and others,” the analyst noted.

"We could even see the port of Gwadar in Pakistan built by China and the port of Chabahar in Iran link-up as part of a wider transport corridor within One Belt One Road,” he stated.

“All of this America knows and all of this America wants to stop, because the United States can only exert its bullying power over other countries if they’re economically dependent on it. And if such a cooperative initiative was successful and I have no doubt that it will be, the United States would not be able to leverage concessions through blackmail, from South Asian or Eurasian states,” the activist said.

“Now in terms of Trump’s anger with Pakistan, this runs deep because the United States has lost its leverage over Pakistan. Now that China is Islamabad’s most important partner, they can afford to tell the United States what they actually think. Gone are the days of military dictators in Islamabad installed by the United States,” he said.

“Pakistan is slowly reclaiming its country and reclaiming its sovereignty and this could only be a good thing for the wider region,” he observed.

“Another important development is that Pakistan and Iran are intensifying positive relations, which is very good, even though some members of the Pakistani press haven’t entirely internalized this reality. Pakistan and Iran now have a common enemy and they have always had common and mutual needs to cooperate for their distinctive mutual win-win advantages,” Garrie noted.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk