ISLAMABAD: The comments offered by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday last with regard to establishment of an interim government in Afghanistan for holding polls, have generated a diplomatic row between the top officials of the Pakistan and the United States since Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari has called US Ambassador in Afghanistan John Bass a “Little Pygmy” for his earlier negative comments about the observations of Imran Khan.Finance Minister Asad Umar was the first to react about the US ambassador’s comments and reminded him: “Your tweet shows that you understand neither cricket nor diplomacy. With the Afghan peace process at such a critical juncture hope the US will be able to find better diplomacy skill to deal with the delicate issues at hand.”In between, US senior diplomat and special envoy for Afghan peace Zalmay Khalilzad and later Afghanistan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah also joined in criticising Imran Khan’s remarks. Former Afghan president Hamid Karazi and incumbent President of Dr Ashraf Ghani were also among who reacted negatively about the statement.The Foreign Office is avoiding entering the controversy but some top officials are trying desperately to drag it in the “cross firing.” Diplomatic observers are of the view that angry words of Shireen Mazari in the case are more than just an insult. They have the potential to upend the Trump administration’s delicate efforts to reach a peace deal in Afghanistan that would it allow it to withdraw troops after nearly 20 years of war. Imran Khan’s observations were responded by John Bass on Wednesday through a tweet.“Some aspects of #cricket apply well in diplomacy, some do not,” he wrote, adding that it’s “important to resist temptation to ball-tamper with the #Afghanistan peace process and its internal affairs.”Shireen Mazari responded: “Clearly you little pygmy your knowledge of ball tampering is as void as your understanding of Afghanistan and the region! Clearly in your case ignorance is certainly not bliss! Another sign of Trumpian mischief a la Khalilzad style!”Imran Khan, who is quick in responding tweet, is still quiet about it. But Shireen Mazari had some choice words for the US envoy. If you’re thinking “surely she will retract that” no such luck. In response to criticism on Twitter, she sent out another zinger: “But seriously what diplomatic norms? US diplomats have been violating them all day today from Zalmay to this moron!” So what the heck is going on here? She termed the US envoy as stupid in her words. According to media reports, the US State Department declined to comment, but it seems that Bass’s tweet was in direct response to a comment Imran Khan made on March 25, saying Afghanistan should have an interim government to help with peace talks, although it’s unclear how that would help the situation. That greatly angered Afghanistan’s US-allied administration, and led Kabul to pull its ambassador from Pakistan. Bass’s tweet seemingly came in response to this last move. He was surely trying to both support Afghanistan and reprimand Khan for his comments. But some, clearly, were not happy with the way he went about doing it, the diplomatic observers opined.“Some Pakistanis are now angry at the Bass tweet and believe it was an inappropriate way to address Pakistan’s prime minister,” Alyssa Ayres, a Pakistan expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, said. “That’s how you end up with the ‘pygmy’ tweet.” To be fair, no government official would take kindly to their boss being openly rebuked by a foreigner. In that sense, then, Mazari’s comments are somewhat understandable. She also has a track record of harshly rebutting any external criticism of Pakistan, including from some human rights groups. But the online spat may have imperilled US-Pakistani relations in the short term and Afghanistan peace talks in the long term. Pakistan has long played a major role in the Afghanistan war that makes Pakistan an important player in the Trump administration’s months-long negotiations with the Taliban to end the war and possibly bring all 14,000 US troops home. The sources reminded that the prospects of improved Pakistan-US ties, though, don’t look good because of President Donald Trump’s hard-line approach to Pakistan.“The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit,” Trump tweeted on January 1, his first tweet of that year. “They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!” He later suspended up to $1.3 billion in military aid to Pakistan. Khan was already sceptical of the United States before coming to power last summer. Trump’s earlier moves — and Bass’s undiplomatic tweet — certainly won’t help his perception. It’s no surprise, then, that Mazari (like others in Khan’s government) harbours animosity towards the US. But calling a US ambassador a “little pygmy,” in the middle of a sensitive diplomatic negotiation, could lead to further complications, the diplomats added.
03-29-2019, 07:09 PM
Mazari calls US envoy in Kabul ?moron?, pigmy
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