Beyond Trumpisms

US President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Prime Minister Modi has been over the top. That he termed Modi the ‘father of India’ could be dismissed as mere Trumpism; but for an American to call anyone Elvis Presley, particularly someone from Trump’s generation, is high praise indeed, for Presley symbolises mass appeal. To top it all, Trump has underscored Modi’s ability to ‘take care’ of terrorism in the region and solve the Kashmir issue. Read together, all these statements might appear to mean a blanket approval for the abrogation of Article 370 and the lockdown in the Valley. But the Indian establishment, while gloating over the immense success of the ‘Howdy, Modi’ event and the Modi-Trump meeting thereafter, should also closely look at the Trump-Imran Khan meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly for further clues to solve the Pak puzzle.

Later, Imran Khan on Tuesday made a shocking statement at the Centre for Foreign Relations in New York City, becoming the first Pakistan Prime Minister to openly admit that the Pakistan army and the ISI have together trained Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups to fight in Afghanistan. This is being seen as a diplomatic blunder or a slip-up committed by the old fast bowler, but it is neither. It is a well-timed and well-pitched yorker aimed to break the Indo-US bonhomie by reminding the US of the crucial role Pakistan played in Afghanistan, which triggered the collapse of the Soviet Union. And this assertion is in tune with what Khan said in July on Pakistan still having ‘30,000-40,000 armed people who have trained and fought in some part of Afghanistan or Kashmir’.

Yet, Trump sidestepped Khan’s comment, and, instead, pointed fingers at Iran as the No.1 terror state because he needs Pakistan for his troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Unless India decides to play an active role in the Afghan peace process, Pakistan’s leverage over the US cannot be neutralised. Former Prime Minister Vajpayee was right in refusing to send Indian troops to Iraq, but stability in Afghanistan is not merely an American enterprise, it is crucial to Indian interests and we must secure them.