US-Pakistan tango: This risky double-game may dent Islamabad’s relations with Beijing, and also cause international humiliation

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi’s refusal to meet the US delegation, led by Steve Witcoff and Jared Kushner, who were scheduled to travel to Pakistan for the second round of ‘Islamabad talks’ on April 25, once again exposes Pakistan’s risky double game. US President Donald Trump had to cancel the visit of the delegation, when it became clear that Araghchi had no intention of meeting the Americans in Islamabad. The question arises as to who promised Trump that a meeting between the US officials and Araghchi was possible in Islamabad despite Iranians clearly stating that they were no more interested in another round of dialogue.

One can easily make out that Pakistan army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir had assured the US of persuading Iran for a deal favouring the US. To initiate the process, Pakistan held a meeting (March 30) of foreign ministers of Egypt, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia, all US allies, before the first round of ‘Islamabad talks’ for sensing their response to a possible deal between the US and Iran. China was not pleased at the diplomatic and strategic overreach by Pakistan without consulting it.

Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister Ishaq Dar was summoned to Beijing and made to sign a five-point declaration (April 1) giving primacy to the UN charter —a formulation that China repeated in the UN Security Council on April 7 while voting against a resolution moved by Bahrain. The resolution supported by 11 members was opposed by Russia and China. The resolution had called for efforts of a “defensive nature” to ensure safety and security of navigation across the Strait of Hormuz –– an invitation to other countries to militarily escort ships.


In fact, the behaviour of the US delegation in the first round of talks in Islamabad (April 11-12), where they took continuous dictates from Washington and advice from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu before walking away, didn’t go down well with the Iranians. The very next day, the US announced a blockade — an act of war — of Iranian ports in Strait of Hormuz and its ally in the war, Israel, continued its military campaign in Lebanon ignoring Pakistan’s claim that the ceasefire included Lebanon.

Nevertheless, Asim Munir and his prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, visited Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye to drum up support in the region for the deal and once again conveniently ignored China. What transpired at the meetings that Asim Munir had in Iran before the scheduled second round of dialogue is not known, but one thing he must have told Iranians is to pamper the ego of the US President by allowing him to declare a victory rather than prolonging the conflict. This is exactly what Asim Munir, and his prime minister Shehbaz Sharif did after conflict with India in May last year by recommending Trump’s name for the Nobel Peace prize.

At the same time, Iran can’t antagonise Pakistan with whom it shares a long 900-km border. As Iran focuses on the sea where the US has amassed troops, it will have to ensure that its land border with Pakistan is not exploited by the US for ground invasion. Besides, Iran would also be alarmed after Pakistan dispatched 13,000 armed military personnel along with some aircraft and pilots to Saudi Arabia, a US ally in the region. The troops were sent after Saudi Arabia promised to park $3 billion in Pakistani banks. That is why Abbas Aragchi travelled to Pakistan on April 25 to explain why Iran refused to attend the second round of ‘Islamabad talks’.

The reality is that Iran has become a target of simmering geo-strategic tension between the US and China over capturing world resources and opening markets for their products. Enrichment of uranium, production of ballistic missiles and security of Israel are only smoke screens created by the US to hide the real issue of blocking supply of Iranian sanctioned oil to China that the latter uses for fuelling its economy. For ensuring the same, the US required the complete surrender of Iran.

But the US-Israeli plan backfired. Along with Iran, the US and Israel suffered huge losses in the conflict, which was unexpected. President Trump and Israel’s Netanyahu have not been able to force the surrender of Iran despite launching devastating bombing for weeks, targeted annihilation of Iranian leadership and even threats to kill an entire civilisation. Hence, Trump badly needs a fig leaf of victory that he could project internationally to maintain the US’s continued military and economic domination and shore up his sagging support domestically.

The most suitable country to bail out the US is obviously Pakistan. A country always in need of economic support from the US in terms of tariffs and regular bailouts from the IMF. But, this risky doublegame may dent Islamabad’s relations with China, as also cause international humiliation.

The writer is former Intelligence Bureau officer who served in Pakistan