The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, confirms the country’s strategic turn and formalizes the rapprochement with Washington. One way for the United States to secure this heavy goods vehicle from South Asia in the Western camp.
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After years of scramble linked to virulent anti -Americanism of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, forced to leave power in early April, Islamabad and Washington formalize their reunion. A strategic turn assumed by his successor, Shehbaz Sharif, and the Pakistani military power, as much as a desire to reduce the country’s dependence on China.
The United States has since multiplied the announcements of aid in Pakistan which is going through a deep economic crisis and historical floods. The two countries have also agreed on more confidential security clauses, a way, for the American authorities, to try to secure this heavy goods vehicle in southern Asia in the Western camp, against the backdrop of Ukrainian conflict.
Latest announcement on Friday September 9, the American command for the Middle East, Centcom, said that it would send “an evaluation mission to Islamabad to determine what support the US Defense Ministry can Bring to USAID [the American agency for international development] as part of the assistance of the United States “. A decision taken Thursday, with the powerful chief of staff of the Pakistani army, General Qamar Javed Bajwa. The monsoon rains have submerged almost a third of Pakistan, causing more than a thousand victims since June, and destroyed or damaged more than 1 million households.
Do not offend China
Two days earlier, the Pentagon confirmed the existence of a discussion on the right track with Pakistan on the renovation of its fleet of American F-16 fighter planes. Estimated at nearly $ 450 million (448 million euros), the current agreement obtained the green light from the US State Department. The White House and the companies concerned have already assured that this negotiation will end up on the supply of “no new capacity, weapon or ammunition”. This sale will confirm, says the Pentagon, “the objectives of foreign policy and national security of the United States”.
A carefully chosen communication which is undoubtedly, intended not to offend Beijing, the main strategic ally of Pakistan who would have nearly 400 JF-17 fighter planes, made with the help of the Chinese, but tried, by experts, less reliable than American F-16s. Nevertheless, according to a Western diplomat stationed in Islamabad, “the fact that the new Pakistani Foreign Affairs, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, made his first official visit, on May 18, in the United States is a real sign”. p>
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