He’s hit the ground running as Foreign Minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has. Ordinarily, the US Secretary of State making a phone call to his counterpart in Pakistan wouldn’t be something out of the ordinary, but given the strained relations between the two countries, it is seen as a sign of a possible thawing of relations.
Though Secretary Blinken has invited the newly sworn-in foreign minister to the global food security summit at the UN in New York, there are expectations of subsequent meetings of a more bilateral nature.
It’s going to be a tightrope walk that the young Foreign Minister will have to walk so soon after taking office. Relations between the two countries have taken a tumble as a consequence of the events in Afghanistan. Yes, it was the USA that decided to cut its losses and evacuate from our western neighbour, but now, with lesser skin in the game, the USA is going to be more forthcoming about the Pakistani establishment’s peculiar role in facilitating the insurgency against the US-supported government in Afghanistan. Add to this the lack of subtlety shown by the former military spymaster in the aftermath of the fall of the Ghani regime.
Then there is the issue of Russia, and the signalling done, and damage caused by, the former PM’s oddly-timed trip to meet President Vladimir Putin on the eve of the war in Ukraine. And then, of course there is China, and the western desire for us to wean ourselves away from Chinese influence.
A negotiation on Russia isn’t going to be without its hiccups but will be the most doable of the three. Quarters much more influential on foreign policy than the Foreign Office, unfortunately, have already signalled as much. The issue of Afghanistan is pricklier but there is no formal recognition of the regime as yet, and even the hawkish elements in the State Department would concede that the Pakistani government has to have a measure of coordination with the regime there for complications caused by sheer proximity.
The China equation, however, cannot ever, in any form, be to the liking of the West, and we would be better off trying not to attempt any recalibration of ties in the first place, unless it is caused by exclusively bilateral issues with China.
