



Speaking to Paul Jay and The Real News , Junaid Ahmad explained the geopolitics behind the potential new target of the US imperialists: Pakistan.





Junaid Ahmad is the Director of Center for Global Dialogue and Professor of Middle Eastern Politics at the University of Lahore, Pakistan. He is also the Secretary-General of the International Movement for a Just World based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and a Visiting Fellow at the Berkeley Center for Islamophobia and Ethnic Studies Graduate Center.





It appears that the ultimate target is always a major opponent in the global geopolitical arena: China.





Ahmad explained:





There are a couple of significant developments which are marking various shifts in local geopolitics. A very important point was in March 2015, when the Pakistani military, for the first time ever, had the courage to say no to the Saudis in being willing to participate in their war against Yemen, which is an excellent decision they made to not participate in this murderous war.





The Pakistani military has in the past almost served as a mercenary army for many of these Gulf regimes and has been part of this axis of kind of the US, Saudi and before that the Cold War framework of non-Arab regimes in the region trying to maintain that architecture of control. Turkey, Pakistan, Iran before of course the Iranian revolution.





Now, Pakistan is not longer the same Pakistan of the Cold War. And what we have seen post-9/11 is a strengthening of an old relationship that is with China. And now, we're at a point where the Pakistani military literally is getting the type of basically money that it has been getting from Washington. It's no longer beholden to Washington in the way that it has been in the past.





These are interesting developments and I think that the Pentagon and the CIA realize this. This is why they're kind of going all out in making India their frontline state. We have been now witnessing border skirmishes between India and China, which are also reaching some dangerous levels, over the past few months.





I'm half my time based in Malaysia and if you see it from there, where you have US naval ships and military bases encircling China, you understand fully well why the relationship with India right now is so crucial in the geopolitics of the region and why they want India to play that role in Afghanistan. It's the only kind of trusted ally. From China's part, one thing people fail to realize, the most powerful ally that China probably has in the world, closest ally, is Pakistan. It's a mutually dependent relationship.





The billions being invested to build this port in Gwadar, in Pakistan would be a major accomplishment for the Chinese, especially in the case of a major conflict where they're choked in the South China Sea and elsewhere. These are all the geopolitics of the region that do explain why I think that Washington is becoming more bellicose, is more willing to kind of once again call out the Pakistanis but they're doing it now almost because the Pakistanis really at this point don't really care as much because they're getting the full backing of Beijing.









Apart from recent Trump's statements about Pakistan, other agents of the US military-industrial complex have nearly verified the fact that Pakistan is the next potential target after Afghanistan. We saw retired Colonel Jack Jacobs destroying all pretexts and cynically admitting to Rachel Maddow that the real goal behind the extension of US military presence in Afghanistan is the rich mineral deposits.





In the end, he revealed that Afghanistan will be used also as a major US military base towards the next target, which is Pakistan:





The real problem is actually inside Pakistan and it includes a corrupt government, no control over local areas, a poorly trained army, and so on. None of the things that the president mentioned are going to change that very much, except a commitment to stay in Afganistan for several decades (!!!)





So, briefly, a potential invasion of the US military in Pakistan, will serve at least four key objectives:





Block further Chinese economic expansion in the broader region on behalf of the US corporations



Deprive from China a reliable ally and the opportunity for naval exodus to the Arabian Sea, therefore



Suffocate China even more, by expanding the ground encirclement arc around it



Boycott the relationship between the two major powers in the region, China and India, as being both members of the BRICS



