Saturday 11 August 2018

Axing of IMET

66 military courses slots reserved for Pakistani officers have been cut off by US Govt. Two observations:
1. Personal. I briefly trained with most modern armies to include two weeks exercise in Germany with UK & US army personnel. US army personnel were shallow talkers & dumbest among all. So the learning value was zero.
2. Observational. Officers who attended courses at US had clear cut advantage in exposure. And in their professional outlook, except this exposure, there was not much to add.
For exposure part & modern way of 'co-existence', cutting off IMET courses is a set back but on professional note, we didn't lose much.
Divergent theories on this issue were circulating including over-zealous, indifferent & conpiracy based. I just summed it up in terms of hardcore professional learning we didn't lose much. Its temporary political posturing for regional alignments like US backs India & Pak besides Chinese factors, is exploring new friendship with Russians. May be, Mr Trump with his pressure tactics wants to send a warning shot to IK/PTI that instead of collision course, they should respect US as stakeholder in the region otherwise they might have to pay the price. But, his tactics is more like a go-getter businessman than a statesman. Sometimes it works like in case of North Korea because he was dealing with equally 'robust' Kim but in other parts of the world, it may not work, particularly Pakistan. This should set us free & allow us to look towards Russia & other new friends for deals. In nutshell, it is a win-win for us.
Please feel free to record your feedback on the issue.

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