WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump, while unveiling his new national security strategy, reminded Pakistan that it’s obliged to help America because it receives “massive payments” from Washington every year.
“We
have made clear to Pakistan that while we desire continued partnership,
we must see decisive action against terrorist groups operating on their
territory. And we make massive payments every year to Pakistan. They
have to help,” said the president while addressing his nation from the
Ronald Reagan building in Washington.
This was the only
reference to Pakistan in his speech, although the 56-page document that
he released deals with it in more details, urging Pakistan to “continue
demonstrating that it is a responsible steward of its nuclear assets”.
The
policy paper also says that “the United States continues to face
threats from transnational terrorists and militants operating from
within Pakistan”.
The new strategy, however, focuses
more on the domestic front and identifies two “greatest transnational
threats” to homeland security: Jihadist terrorists and international
criminal organisations.
And to prevent jihadists from
entering the United States, it suggests tightening America’s immigration
system by ending lottery visas and chain migration, which allows family
members of a US citizen to settle in the country.
The
plan also reinforces President Trump’s pledge to build a wall on the US
border with Mexico to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the
United States.
The paper says that the jihadist use
“barbaric cruelty to commit murder, repression, and slavery, and virtual
networks to exploit vulnerable populations and inspire and direct
plots”.
The strategy identifies four vital national interests, or “four pillars” as:
Protect
the homeland, the American people, and American way of life; Promote
American prosperity; Preserve peace through strength; Advance American
influence.
Top on the list of external threats are
“revisionist powers”, such as China and Russia, that “use technology,
propaganda, and coercion to shape a world antithetical to our interests
and values”.
Regional dictators are the next because
they “spread terror, threaten their neighbours, and pursue weapons of
mass destruction”.
Then come the jihadist terrorists who “foment hatred to incite violence against innocents in the name of a wicked ideology”.
Transnational criminal organisations, last on the list, are blamed for spilling “drugs and violence into our communities”.
The
White House says that the strategy articulates and advances the
President Trump’s concept of “principled realism” and acknowledges the
central role of power in international politics.
The
domestic part of the new policy suggests targeting threats at their
source: confront them “before they ever reach our borders or cause harm
to our people”.
It promises to redouble efforts to
protect critical US infrastructure and digital networks and also
underlines the plan to deploy a “layered missile defence system to
defend America against missile attacks”.
The new
strategy says that America will use its energy dominance to ensure
international markets remain open, and that the benefits of
diversification and energy access promote economic and national
security.
It promises to rebuild America’s military
strength to ensure it remains second to none. It also urges US allies
and partners to take greater responsibility for addressing common
threats.
“We will ensure the balance of power remains in
America’s favour in key regions of the world: the Indo-Pacific, Europe,
and the Middle East,” it declares.
The new strategy
says that America must continue to enhance its influence overseas to
protect the American people and promote their prosperity.
It
says that America will seek partnerships with like-minded states to
promote free market economies, private sector growth, political
stability and peace.
