



Aaron Maté of the Real News spoke with Junaid Ahmad, Director of Center for Global Dialogue and Professor of Middle Eastern Politics at the University of Lahore, about the latest Trump turn against Pakistan.





Ahmad reveals that since the US invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan was threatened by Washington's hawks not only to take the side of the US, but even to assist militarily the US operations in Afghanistan.





He also says that the latest hostile stance of Washington against Pakistan could be explained by the deeper approach of the country with China.





Finally, he points out the qualitative difference between the US and China. While the US threatens countries and spreads catastrophe through the power of weapons, China attempts economic cooperation and tries to bring all sides at the table of dialogue:





The way to look at what's essentially transpired since the US invasion of Afghanistan is dictation to Pakistan, as the General President Musharraf said at the time, that basically the choice that was offered to Pakistan is either comply and corporate, or be bombed to the stone age, as he was told by a senior functionary in Washington.





So, Pakistan essentially went along, but the expectation that Pakistan would engage in full scale military assaults, which of course, it was pressured to at certain times with horrendous consequences internally within Pakistan.





That is to say not only a large number of civilians killed, but millions, up to millions displaced from those areas bordering Afghanistan and areas in the country where the military had never gone into, what's known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.





The only sensible solution right now is in fact for regional powers to come to the table and broker some type of diplomatic and political resolution. And the Chinese were doing the unthinkable over the past few months, which is bringing two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, that have had incredible level of friction and tension. They were bringing them to the table, trying to broker some resolution, which is the only sensible thing. This is what is frightening Washington so much, that in fact some type of diplomatic and political resolution will take place that will completely sideline Washington from the entire process.



