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Pakistan: Pompeo's stop over
  • Prime Minister Imran Khan, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Joseph Dunford, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Jave
    Prime Minister Imran Khan, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Joseph Dunford, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Jave
More than an official visit, a stop on the way to Delhi where Pompeo signed with India a series of treaties on defense that they did not like, and they could not like it at all, in Islamabad. The answer has arrived at a tight turn. During the celebrations for the Defense Day, Prime Minister Imran Khan declared that Pakistan "will never fight anybody else's wars". A clear reference to Afghanistan, a matter of contending again burning. Because the Americans have accepted for the first time to enter into direct talks with the Taliban breaking years of customary contrary: even if the first round of talks in Doha, in July, has ended with nothing done and the next round is definitely in . Washington tries to force the Pakistanis to stop playing on multiple tables, both when it comes to Afghanistan and the war on terrorism, but Islamabad does not seem willing to give in. Since the beginning of the year, and by the now famous tweet with which Donald Trump claimed to have enough of the Pakistani strategies, the United States has used financial levers to put Islamabad in a tight line: the inclusion of Pakistan in the gray list of Fatf and, more recently, the cancellation of 300 million dollars of aid. The election of Imran Khan to premier does not really bode well: supporter of the Taliban and tribal justice, in the past he has repeatedly thrown himself against the American bombings with the guilty drones, according to him, of having generated terrorism in Pakistan. Imran speaks of the army, the true holder of power: so much so that, sitting with Pompeo, the ISI director and the head of the Armed Forces were found instead of government ministers. The death of Jalaluddin Haqqani in recent days, in fact nothing changes: Haqqani died of disease, and in the dynamics of Afghan power had already been replaced. Trump needs to sing victory and bring home his troops, Islamabad needs a war always at the door and to keep control over Kabul for that famous 'strategic depth' that has always been desired. The Chinese, who control Pakistan, need stability in order to make their investments in the CPE come to fruition. Pompeo's visit, for the moment, does not change absolutely nothing.
Francesca Marino
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