THE United States has never proved to be a trustworthy and reliable especially in the case of Pakistan.
Regardless of our efforts to bring peace and stability to the region, especially Afghanistan, the US has always raised questions on our sincerity.
Adding salt to our wounds, a group of high-profile US Senators including a former presidential nominee has now moved a bill in the US Senate seeking imposition of sanctions on the Afghan Taliban that could also potentially extend to Pakistan.
The bill titled Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight and Accountability Act, singles out Pakistan by name in the section that calls for a report on “entities providing support to the Taliban.”
It is to be seen whether or not the bill sails through the Senate, yet it is ill timed and ill intentioned, depicting the very desperation of the Americans.
It really suggests that the US legislatures want to penalize and target Pakistan for their own failures in Afghanistan.
It is aimed at putting both Pakistan and the Taliban under pressure and yet another sign that the US relationship with Pakistan was purely transactional.
The fact of the matter is that Pakistan has paid a heavy price in the war on terrorism both human and material and it is faced with dire situation today because of the rubble of two decades left behind by Washington.
With such tactics, the western countries cannot absolve themselves of their responsibility regarding Afghanistan.
It is not Pakistan but their acts that totally destroyed Afghanistan. If the country is abandoned today, it will not only further deteriorate security situation in the region but also create a massive refugee crisis.
These are the same Taliban with whom the US had sat together and reached an agreement in Doha and they should continue to engage with them and move forward in a spirit of cooperation in order to avert humanitarian and economic collapse there.
Being a sovereign and independent country, we should also make it clear to Washington that scapegoating and browbeating will no longer be acceptable.
