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Syed Talat Hussain In the short-term, which is the dominant concern, Washington wants a smooth, bloodless, uncomplicated withdrawal of soldiers and sinews of its $2-trillion war from Afghanistan. It is positioning its air and sea-based resources to remove any hurdle that could subvert the process, but would obviously need Pakistan’s full assurance that it will extend a helping hand (both hands in fact) and commit to dealing with complexities that might pop up. Pakistan is saying “yes”. It wants all lines of withdrawal to stay open and secure through Pakistan’s jurisdiction. Pakistan is saying “sure”.  It also wants the Taliban to behave while it winds up its tent. Pakistan is expected to take the lead in achieving this goal. Pakistan is saying, “trying our best.”  It also wants Pakistan to do intelligence sharing far more deeply than it has done so far. Withdrawal means less intel gathering capacity (other than that capacity that is tech-based). Pakistan is expected to be a sp...

Syed Talat Hussain “Disappointing”. This is how the Pakistan Foreign Office has termed the damning resolution adopted by the European Union parliament advocating a review/temporary suspension of Pakistan’s GSP+ status and its associated advantages. The resolution does so primarily on account of the blasphemy laws’ “abuse” but also a raft of other issues related to death penalty, attacks on journalists and members of academia etc are mentioned.  The resolution being what it is, the really disappointing part of this bruising foreign and trade policy blow (we export nearly 7 billion dollars worth of goods to EU) is how the government sat on its hands as the making of the resolution was taking place and its draft was circulating all around EU capitals for weeks. European diplomas confirm that they had communicated this serious matter and its devastating consequences to the Imran government’s various officials apart from their friends in the Foreign Office.  The resolution’s prep...