America’s Legacy of Terror

It was reported in these columns earlier how the US is linked to ISIS and Al Qaeda, and how the US installed the anti-India radical Islamist regime in Dhaka (https://www.thestrategicperspective.org/articles/donald-trump-and-islamic-terrorism/). The POTUS Donald Trump promised anti-terrorist cooperation in his bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 13, 2025. But is doing the opposite. It was also brought out that Trump issued a statement a few years back, “Former US President Obama is the founder of ISIS and Hillary Clinton is the co-founder.” But is Trump trying to prove himself the Big Daddy of Al Qaeda; by shaking hands with Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (in Riyadh) former Al Qaeda, who till December 2024 had a USD10 million bounty on his head – and calling him “capable”? Hope this “capable” bit has nothing to do with a post on X asking whether the West is led by a small cadre of homosexuals.

As the 45th President of the US, Donald Trump gave out his AfPak policy in a televised speech, which included: Pakistan often gives safe haven to agents of chaos, violence, and terror; we can no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe havens for terrorist organizations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond; Pakistani people have suffered greatly from terrorism and extremism but Pakistan has also sheltered the same organizations that try every single day to kill our people; we have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting. But that will have to change, and that will change immediately; US forces are not going to withdraw from Afghanistan and it would be made sure that the mistake of premature withdrawal from Iraq is not repeated in Afghanistan. His references to India redefined the erstwhile US Af-Pak policy to include India and de-hyphenated the India-Pakistan gaffe (https://www.sps-aviation.com/experts-speak/?id=225&h=President-Trump-s-Af-Pak-Policy).

But then it was Trump who took a complete backflip by ordering the withdrawal from Afghanistan, with the US signing the so-called peace deal with the Taliban drafted by Pakistan. Trump had even invited a Taliban delegation for a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, but the meeting was called off at the last minute because of Taliban violence in Afghanistan although the Taliban delegation had reached the US. The same Chameleon Trump has now hyphenated India and Pakistan by saying he managed the India-Pakistan ceasefire by threatening trade sanctions to halt India’s military campaign against Islamabad – saving its proxy (Pakistan) that was running out of offensive drones, plus and AD systems and PAF airfields largely defunct?

The CIA-MI6-ISI nexus remains strong since SEATO, CENTO and America’s so-called Global War on Terrorism’ (GWOT). America’s Maxar Technologies supplied satellite images of Pahalgam and surrounding areas two months before the Pahalgam massacre on extraordinary demand from Pakistan. The POTUS Donald Trump says he is a close friend of both India and Pakistan. The US hasn’t blamed Pakistan for the Pahalgam attack. The US is behind the IMF loan to Pakistan.

Trump called Hillary Clinton the co-founder of ISIS. Hillary Clinton, when visiting Pakistan as US Secretary of State, had publicly warned Pakistan (with Hina Rabbani standing at her side) about the hatchery of snakes in its backyard. But Donald Trumps is picking up vipers from the same hatchery and installing them in the White House, Ismail Royer trained with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (same terror group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, killing 170 including Americans and Israelis), indicted in the US and imprisoned for 13-years, is appointed on the White House Board (https://goachronicle.com/trump-appoints-convicted-jihadist-to-advisory-board/). Given America’s profound interest in Pakistan and Bangladesh, Royer would render good advice to Trump for destabilizing South Asia through terrorism. This also reinforces the belief that the CIA greenlighted the Pahalgam massacre. The surprise is why Trump is being coy and not getting the White House painted in Zebra colours, since it has always sponsored terrorism. Then there is the question with Trump’s photo on social media in Osama’s head dress, whether he is jihadi by heart and hopes to get 72 hoors when he dies, given his sexploits. 

It appears that aside from using terrorists, making America rich is another love of Trump. But the latter needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.  Speaking on the floor of the Senate, Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) explains how many millions of dollars Trump made for himself and his family during his recent visit to the Middle East, security of Middle East wasn’t on the agenda at all (https://youtu.be/mR_q9llV-70?si=W6HcGvyrdz-DFeTL). This is another reason why Trump is so fond of Pakistan. Pakistan recently signed an agreement with World Liberty Financial (WLF), a cryptocurrency company in which Trump’s family reportedly holds a 60% stake. The deal was made with the newly formed Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC), which appointed Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) as its adviser just a month prior. Pakistan aims to become the South Asia’s crypto hub with US patronage; cryptocurrency being viewed by Trump as an added shield against de-dollarization (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/cryptocurrency/pakistan-strikes-deal-with-trump-family-backed-crypto-venture/articleshow/121179568.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst).

In his pre-election campaign, Trump portrayed he will bring an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine once he assumes the presidency for the second time. But after he extracted a deal from Zelensky for Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, he is following a blow hot, blow cold policy. What his recent dialogue with President Putin and Zelensky will lead to only time will show, but the rigid stance of the EU-Britain-backed Zelensky indicates a permanent ceasefire is unlikely anything soon. Eric Meyer, Senior Bureau Official for the US Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, led a delegation to Islamabad earlier this year to explore investment and collaboration opportunities in Pakistan's mineral sector, with a focus on securing reliable sources of critical minerals, which are essential for advanced technologies. The minerals of course are in Balochistan where a Canadian company already has a contract with Pakistan. Naturally, Trump’s love is growing for Pakistan. Now Trump has cleared an estimated USD 225 million deal for advanced medium range air-to-air missiles to Turkey – some of which may land up in Pakistan?

Finally, how dangerous Trump is for India is difficult to gauge but one view is that the seismic tremors in Pakistan were caused by Osama bin-Laden giggling in his grave.

The author is an Indian Army veteran, Views expressed are personal.