Causes Of Trump Letter To Imran Khan

In November this year US President Donald Trump in one of his tweet accused Pakistan for not taking significant steps against Taliban and other terrorist groups present in the region. His tweet infuriated both Pakistani public and political leaders and in response Prime Minister Imran tweeted by pointing Trump’s attention towards the sacrifices that Pakistan being a US ally in war on terror has paid. After the exchange of such harsh conversation between the two leaders on tweeter, many political experts were predicting a new downturn in Pak-US relations. However all such speculations proved wrong when President Donald Trump in the early days of December 2018, wrote a letter to the Premier of Pakistan, Imran Khan, requested him to play a significant role in Afghan peace process. Such a major turn in both Trump tone and behavior towards Pakistan not only shocked many political analysts but also led to the development of many speculations. Many journalists presented different reasons for the soft posture of US and her request to Pakistan for playing her due role in the peace process of Afghanistan.

Can Pakistan Afford Tense Relations With USA?

There are many causes that forced US President Donald Trump to wrote a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan and seek Pakistan’s help in Afghan peace process. Some of these reasons include but not limited to the following.

Afghanistan Proved Deathtrap: After spending trillion of dollars for almost seventeen years in war on terror in Afghanistan, US has realized that she has failed to established peace both in the region and in the country. She also knew that she cannot secure peace in Afghanistan in near future. Therefore, she thinks that it is better to withdraw from Afghanistan as quickly as possible but America cannot do so because US being a superpower state of the world, cannot leave Afghanistan in troubled conditions. Afghanistan, like for all previous superpowers, proved a deathtrap for US too and America knew that very well.

Pakistan’s Importance And Role in Afghan Peace Process

Sapping Resources And Focus: According to US political analysts, American war on terror in Afghanistan is not only sapping her resources but it is also deviating her attention from some other major and important problems both at home and at global level.

Afghanistan Presidential Elections: Presidential elections in Afghanistan will be held in April next year. US want to conclude peace talks with Taliban before referendum. She is also planning to persuade Taliban for taking part in the general elections because only this way she could conduct elections peacefully in the country. If US failed to conclude peace talks with Taliban before April 2019, conducting general elections in the country would be a major challenge for her.

US Blunders in Afghan War on Terror

US famous journalist, Steve Coll in one of his articles in New York Times has argued that USA cannot win war in Afghanistan because We don’t know why we are there? Due to such arguments by many other political think-tanks, US now want to withdraw from Afghanistan as quickly as possible. To speedup peace talk process, US has ordered her special envoy for Taliban peace talk process, Zalmay Khalilzad, to meet Imran Khan and officials in Afghanistan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Belgium and United Arab Emirates.