Continued instability keeps Pakistan a grave concern to U.S.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court, on July 27, forced the removal of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office, based on allegations of corruption that involved him, two of his sons, and a daughter.

That removal is a good step, but Pakistan continues to slip into instability, and as the Taliban extends its influence, the whole region remains a matter of grave concern to the United States.

Mr. Sharif’s removal, the third time he has been ousted as prime minister, comes in the context, first, of the complex Afghanistan-India-Pakistan issue that the government of President Trump is wrestling with. Secondly, it raises again the internal Pakistani political drama carried out since independence between Pakistan’s civil and military authorities. Even though the military did not cut short Mr. Sharif’s term as prime minister this time, it is nonetheless considered that the Supreme Court moved against him for corruption with a green light from the country’s strong military, which has never trusted him.

The Pakistan military’s beef with Mr. Sharif this time and in the past is his continuing efforts to improve relations with India. The Pakistan military opposes this approach because it uses the conflict with India, over Kashmir and the religious differences between predominantly Muslim Pakistan and mainly Hindu India, to maintain its grip on the lion’s share of Pakistan’s aid and revenues.

America’s principal problem with Pakistan, under Mr. Sharif and, in general, under civil and military political direction, has been its insufficient zeal on preventing Pakistan-based Taliban and Haqqani network involvement in Afghanistan, where, since 2001, the United States has been trying to put into place a stable enough government to sustain itself in the face of Taliban and other Islamic extremist forces’ efforts against the Kabul government.

As for Pakistan, with a population of nearly 200 million, armed with nuclear weapons, it will now go through a period of some political uncertainty until elections are held in mid-2018. Mr. Sharif’s party, which holds a majority in the lower house of Pakistan’s parliament, has named a temporary prime minister, petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, while it prepares Mr. Sharif’s brother, Shehbaz Sharif, currently chief minister of Pakistan’s most important state, Punjab, to take his brother’s place as prime minister. In the meantime, the ousted prime minister will continue to call the shots through his political party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, unless the Pakistan military carries out another coup d’etat.

The Pakistan political opposition, led by ex-cricket star Imran Khan, notably and openly anti-American, now in an improved position with the formal fall of Mr. Sharif, will be busily preparing for next year’s elections.

For the United States and its interests, none of the signs are good. The U.S.will be obliged to continue to try to develop a winning policy in Afghanistan in the face of widening Taliban gains, and the only possible stability in Pakistan, a hostile one. Pakistan is a mess, and there are no good options for the United States.

http://www.toledoblade.com/Editorials/2017/08/17/Continued-instability-keeps-Pakistan-a-grave-concern-to-U-S.html