Posted on 08/10/2023 7:26:03 AM PDT by Red Badger
Joe Biden’s State Department got busted pushing the Pakistani government to remove Imran Khan as prime minister because Khan did not support the war against Russian aggression in Ukraine.
The Intercept obtained a secret cable that showed Biden’s team using carrots and sticks in its push against Khan, promising better relations if Khan was removed and lonely isolation if he was not.
The cable details the meeting between State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, and Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S., Asad Majeed Khan.
According to The Intercept:
In the meeting, according to the document, Lu spoke in forthright terms about Washington’s displeasure with Pakistan’s stance in the conflict. The document quotes Lu saying that “people here and in Europe are quite concerned about why Pakistan is taking such an aggressively neutral position (on Ukraine), if such a position is even possible.
It does not seem such a neutral stand to us.” Lu added that he had held internal discussions with the U.S. National Security Council and that “it seems quite clear that this is the Prime Minister’s policy.”
Lu then bluntly raises the issue of a no-confidence vote: “I think if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the Prime Minister,” Lu said, according to the document.
“Otherwise,” he continued, “I think it will be tough going ahead.”
Lu warned that if the situation wasn’t resolved, Pakistan would be marginalized by its Western allies.
“I cannot tell how this will be seen by Europe but I suspect their reaction will be similar,” Lu said, adding that Khan could face “isolation” by Europe and the U.S. should he remain in office.
Asked about quotes from Lu in the Pakistani cable, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “Nothing in these purported comments shows the United States taking a position on who the leader of Pakistan should be.”
Miller said he would not comment on private diplomatic discussions.
The discussion concluded, according to the document, with the Pakistani ambassador expressing his hope that the issue of the Russia-Ukraine war would not “impact our bilateral ties.”
Lu told him that the damage was real but not fatal, and with Khan gone, the relationship could go back to normal.
“I would argue that it has already created a dent in the relationship from our perspective,” Lu said, again raising the “political situation” in Pakistan. “
us wait for a few days to see whether the political situation changes, which would mean that we would not have a big disagreement about this issue and the dent would go away very quickly.
Otherwise, we will have to confront this issue head on and decide how to manage it.”
The Pakistani ambassador responded by expressing frustration with the lack of engagement from U.S. leadership:
“This reluctance had created a perception in Pakistan that we were being ignored or even taken for granted.
“There was also a feeling that while the U.S. expected Pakistan’s support on all issues that were important to the U.S., it did not reciprocate.”
The day after the meeting Khan’s opponents in Parliament took the first step to remove Khan.
In May of this year, Imran Khan was arrested outside the High Court in the capital, Islamabad.
“Khan’s fate wasn’t sealed at the time that this meeting took place, but it was tenuous,” said Arif Rafiq, a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute and specialist on Pakistan.
“What you have here is the Biden administration sending a message to the people that they saw as Pakistan’s real rulers, signaling to them that things will better if he is removed from power.”
In before the "it is a righteous and just thing to do in the defense of democracy in Ukraine" posts. Although I've noticed a dropoff lately....
The article never said exactly who the US State Dept was directing this message to, only that their Ambassador in the USA. Is not the Prime Minister "the government" of Pakistan? Was this message directed at the Army's top generals?
Amid a constitutional crisis, Khan became the first prime minister to be removed from office through a no-confidence motion in April 2022. In August, he was charged under anti-terror laws after accusing the police and judiciary of detaining and torturing an aide. In October, Khan was disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan from taking office for the current term of the National Assembly of Pakistan, regarding the Toshakhana reference case. In November, he survived an assassination attempt during a political rally in Wazirabad, Punjab.
On 9 May 2023, Khan was arrested on corruption charges at the Islamabad High Court by paramilitary troops who smashed their way into the courthouse. Protests broke out throughout Pakistan resulting in the arrest of several thousands of Khan’s supporters along with military installations being ransacked. After his release, he blamed the Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir for his arrest. The army responded by terming 9 May as “Black Day”, with Minister of MoPD Ahsan Iqbal terming it as Pakistan’s 9/11. He was sentenced to a three-year jail term on 5 August 2023 and was subsequently arrested for the second time.
> lonely isolation if he was not.
Just give it a year or two and the US policy will change for whatever is the latest meme. Global cooling, space aliens, or whatever.
Elections be d@mned.
Sounds eerily familiar.........................
Amid a constitutional crisis, Khan became the first prime minister to be removed from office through a no-confidence motion in April 2022. In August, he was charged under anti-terror laws after accusing the police and judiciary of detaining and torturing an aide. In October, Khan was disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan from taking office for the current term of the National Assembly of Pakistan, regarding the Toshakhana reference case. In November, he survived an assassination attempt during a political rally in Wazirabad, Punjab.
On 9 May 2023, Khan was arrested on corruption charges at the Islamabad High Court by paramilitary troops who smashed their way into the courthouse. Protests broke out throughout Pakistan resulting in the arrest of several thousands of Khan's supporters along with military installations being ransacked. After his release, he blamed the Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir for his arrest. The army responded by terming 9 May as "Black Day", with Minister of MoPD Ahsan Iqbal terming it as Pakistan's 9/11. He was sentenced to a three-year jail term on 5 August 2023 and was subsequently arrested for the second time.[2]
Did you ever wonder where the term “ugly American” came from? We’re all going to pay for Biden’s bullying and corruption.
“The document quotes Lu saying that “people here and in Europe are quite concerned about why Pakistan is taking such an aggressively neutral position (on Ukraine)...”
The GAE (Globalist American Empire) is now an Evil Empire.
Imprisoning or killing their political opponents seems to be the Biden regime’s SOP.
I read this earlier. This is pretty stunning...Ukraine apparently wasn’t the only place subject to Biden’s strong-arming.
It seems the “deep state” rules the world
I've said before, WE are (neo) Marxists now.
America's woke, uniparty deep-state has taken over the 1960s role of the Soviet Union, promoting a perverted, post-modern globalist ideology, through subversion of small countries, for the ultimate benefit of "the party," and its elites.
The PAkistani military-intelligence complex wants, again, to everything two ways - getting American miltary and other aid while at the same time helping foment anti-American sentiment domestically in Pakistan. My guess is that the anonymous source was given the phony dosument by the Pakistani military-industrial complex. They wanted Khan out before there ever was Russias invastion of Ukraine. Then they egineered the no-confidence vote against him and now they want to put the doemstic blame for his ouster on the U.S.
We are again being played by Pakistan.
We greased the Shah's exit from Iran and got Khomeini. We are still living with those consequences.
We got rid of Saddam and are still bogged down in Iraq and Syria.
We removed the Taliban government from Afghanistan and spent 20 years and trillions of dollars only to exit the country in defeat. The Taliban and AQ are back in control setting up a huge terrorist base.
In 2014 we engineered a coup against the duly elected President of Ukraine, which spawned the separatist movement in the Donbas and the first Russian invasion that annexed Crimea. Ever since, there has been an ongoing war and cost us close to $200 billion and counting in another endless war.
Pakistan is a “key ally” now? Right behind Niger?
Bttt.
5.56mm
I suggest you read the Intercept article, Secret Pakistan Cable Documents U.S. Pressure to Remove Imran Khan--“All will be forgiven,” said a U.S. diplomat, if the no-confidence vote against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan succeeds.
US involvement is undeniable. The military has always been the most powerful political force in Pakistan similar to Egypt. To what extent the US was responsible for the removal of Khan is murky and debatable, but there is no doubt we wanted him out.
I did read what the intercept says it was told was the “anonymous” cable.
I am saying the “secret cable” from an “anonymous” Pakistani military source, is a set up by the notorious two faced double dealing corrupt Pakistan military-intelligence complex.
THEY wanted Khan out long before Putin invaded Ukraine and THEY engineered the no confidence vote against Khan.
With the “public knowledge” (I say intentionally exposed) “secret cable” they get to “appease” the U.S. and the get the Pakistan public to blame the U.S. for Khan being ousted.
We are being played again by Pakistan.
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