This is apropos a letter to the Editor from this writer carried by the newspaper yesterday. I would like to add that the reasons for the US shift are not hard to discern. While India has long been touted as America’s counterweight to China, its policy choices have frustrated Washington.
New Delhi’s unrelenting purchase of Russian oil—now exceeding 1.5 million barrels a day—and acquisition of Russian arms has provided Moscow with critical liquidity to sustain its war effort against Ukraine.
Arms deals alone totaled over $5 billion in 2024, undermining Western sanctions. Trump and senior Republicans like Marco Rubio publicly criticized this stance, framing it as opportunism detrimental to US and NATO interests. In this context, Pakistan’s alignment with US priorities, however cautious, has not gone unnoticed.
On Palestine, Pakistan has walked a fine line. Publicly and diplomatically, Islamabad has been vociferous in condemning Israeli atrocities in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, echoing global outrage at what many now call a “slaughterhouse.”
Yet, unlike Iran or other Muslim-majority states, Pakistan has avoided providing material or military support to Palestinian resistance factions, preventing open friction with Washington or Tel Aviv. This careful positioning has kept Pakistan in the good books of the US administration while still satisfying domestic demands for moral solidarity with Palestine.
Another critical factor shaping this newfound goodwill is Pakistan’s willingness to open its mineral-rich landscape to US investment.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
The writer is a former Press Secretary to the President, An ex-Press Minister at Embassy of Pakistan to France, a former MD, SRBC Macomb, Detroit, Michigan
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