New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) “By relying on Pakistan to mediate the most acute national security concerns, US President Donald Trump essentially does the equivalent of hiring a child molester to teach in a kindergarten,” Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote in The Sunday Guardian about Islamabad’s mediation in the West Asia conflict.

In a post on social media platform X on April 9, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif had described Israel as “evil”, “a curse for humanity”, a “cancerous state”, and pronounced Tel Aviv guilty of “genocide”.

Shortly after, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt praised Pakistan for being “incredible mediators” in the US-Iran conflict. Moreover, the US also appreciated “their friendship”, he noted in the article.

Referring to Pakistan, Leavitt had reportedly in her X post said, “They are the only mediator in this negotiation.”

A few days back, President Trump said, “The Field Marshal (Asim Munir) has been great. The Prime Minister (Shehbaz Sharif) has been really great in Pakistan so I might go” to a signing ceremony for any deal.

According to Rubin, Trump’s comments reflect “diplomatic fantasy”.

He called Pakistan’s role in the US-Iran negotiation as ‘malevolent’.

Rubin reminds that Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan had helped Iran establish its nuclear programme and what is noteworthy is the fact that now Washington is apparently rewarding Islamabad “for the mess their own corruption created”.

Rubin wrote in The Sunday Guardian that Pakistan is “one of the most anti-American countries” in the world.

Referring to the 2011 killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden by US Navy SEALs, he said in his editorial that the then Pakistani government officially labelled the raid as “deep disappointment”.

Rubin mentioned in his article that more than half of the calcium ammonium nitrate used by the Taliban to make improvised explosive devices originated in “just two Pakistani factories”.

He stressed that Pakistan’s support for the Taliban insurgency resulted in the deaths of thousands of Americans.

He feels the reliance on Pakistan will not only be humiliation for the United States, but also “danger of an arrogant and empowered Islamabad that believes Trump has given it broad immunity to continue its terror”.

–IANS

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