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American Strategic Discrimination

America’s true motives are different, and the allegations made by the likes of Jon Finer are nothing but an elaborate deception and discrimination.

By Ambassador (R) Zamir Akram | February 2025

American Strategic
On 19 December last year, Jon Finer, the Deputy National Security Advisor in the Biden Administration, claimed that Pakistan’s development of long-range missiles “will have the capability to strike targets well beyond South Asia, including the United States.” He added that it was “hard for us to see Pakistan’s actions as anything other than an emerging threat to the United States.”
This sweeping and speculative assertion, coming only two days after the US imposed sanctions on Pakistani entities allegedly involved in missile development, could hardly be a coincidence. Besides being patently false and ludicrous, such an allegation is obviously part of a well-orchestrated charade intended to deny Pakistan the capability to ensure credible deterrence against India. The US is well aware of India’s rapid development of its strategic arsenal, including long-range air, land, and sea-based missiles to be deployed on off-shore Indian assets and nuclear-powered submarines, which undermine deterrence and strategic stability in South Asia. Therefore, such an American approach can only be described as strategic discrimination against Pakistan.

Ever since Pakistan’s nuclear tests in response to India in 1998, its strategic doctrine has been focused on ensuring credible deterrence exclusively against India. Accordingly, Pakistan’s strategic capabilities are not directed against any other country except India, least of all the US. Besides, there is no rationale for Pakistan to threaten the US, with which it has no dispute and where millions of Pakistanis reside. The US also maintains a massive nuclear deterrence capability in comparison with which Pakistan’s assets are minuscule. For Pakistan to attack the US would, therefore, be suicidal. These facts are so blatantly obvious that even objective Americans would find it hard to believe Finer’s allegations.

In discussions on this issue over the recent past with American officials and experts, Pakistani interlocutors, myself included, have sought clarity and rational arguments that would explain American concerns. But none have been offered. There have been vague and weak arguments that since Pakistan is China’s ally, its strategic capabilities are a part of the threat from China. This begs the question as to why Pakistan, even as a Chinese ally, would jeopardize its own existence by attacking the US.

The truth is that these American allegations are part of a blatant attempt at deception and discrimination. The objective is to protect America’s strategic interests against China through its partnership with India. To achieve this, the US wants India to focus on China and not be distracted by competition from Pakistan in the strategic domain. But from Pakistan’s perspective, Indian capabilities ostensibly against China can also be used against Pakistan. In fact, after the thrashing India received from China in 1962, it had no inclination whatsoever to engage in a conflict with the Chinese for the sake of the Americans. However, New Delhi will continue to exploit the threat from China to benefit from American hand-outs as Washington’s “Net Security Provider.”

American Strategic

Jon Finer, former Director of Policy Planning Staff of the United States

However, for Pakistan, the Indian military build-up presents an existential threat. India has used the American-supported nuclear waiver to increase its nuclear arsenal. It has developed short-, medium-, and long-range air-, land-, and sea-based missiles. It has acquired nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed submarines. In 2019, India tested an anti-satellite missile (ASAT) and developed a multi-layered Ballistic Missile Defence System (BMD) involving American Patriot, Israeli Arrow, and Russian S-400 missiles. India is also developing hypersonic missiles while inducting new and emerging technologies, such as AI, into its weapon systems with American assistance. At the same time, Indian strategic bases are located across Pakistan rather than China, apart from being set up in the Indian Ocean, most notably in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and possibly beyond in the Indian Ocean. Additionally, as a part of the US-backed Quadrilateral alliance in the Asia-Pacific, India may obtain basing facilities in the territories of its alliance partners – the US, Japan, and Australia.

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