Trump nails Pakistani duplicity

Donald Trump’s first Twitter tirade of the new year, in which he targeted putative Western ally Pakistan with accusations of “lies and deceit” in the war against Islamist terrorism, made a strong point. But in calling out the nation’s double-dealing in a way Barack Obama failed to do, even after Osama bin Laden was found and killed in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, the US President must be careful not to drive Islamabad further towards Muslim extremists. Unsurprisingly, his blunt assertion that “the US has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools” enraged Pakistan’s civilian and military hierarchies, which rule in an uneasy relationship. It is hard to argue with Mr Trump that “they give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan with little help”. The Taliban’s top leadership has been based in Pakistan’s provincial capital of Quetta for years. Bin Laden lived beside the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad. The mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack, Hafiz Saeed, is living freely despite a $US10 million bounty on his head. And Shakil Afridi, the “hero” physician who helped the CIA locate bin Laden, is in jail despite US efforts to gain his release.

Pakistan’s leaders frequently protest their fealty to the war against terror and proclaim the sacrifices they have made for it. Those efforts have been more than offset by the military’s persistent double-dealing with terrorist groups as part of a strategy to influence events in Afghanistan and the dispute with India over Kashmir. The time was overdue to call out Pakistan’s duplicity. Mr Trump also added a clear warning: “No more!”

Cutbacks in US aid seem imminent. But Mr Trump must be wary. Pakistan’s power structure is on a knife-edge. Its 130 nuclear warheads would be far more dangerous if held by an even more unreliable regime.