THE letter from American President Joe Biden is currently the most talked-about topic in Pakistani politics. The Muslim League (N) is jubilant and announcing that those who did not pick up the phone when the Tehreek-e-Insaf leadership called have now written a letter to them. However, the Muslim League (N) leadership should be concerned because the president seems to have taken too long to write the letter. With not much time left before President Joe Biden leaves office and Donald Trump potentially returning, and given Trump’s statement about maintaining good relations with the PTI leadership, this delay could be significant.

Undoubtedly, America is a superpower and it has been the desire of every government to improve and advance good relations with it, but every government has had to pay the price. The United States prioritizes its interests in its relations, demanding peace while ignoring the interests of others. Such behaviour of the United States has always disappointed Pakistan, despite this, maintaining good relations with the United States has been the compulsion of Pakistan and like many other countries, the Pakistani government has been kept as handmaiden of the superpower.

No matter how willingly it is denied that the United States does not interfere in our affairs, no one will believe it because everyone knows that our rulers fall apart over a phone call and Pakistan reluctantly step aside from the Iran Gas Agreement based solely on an American spokesperson’s statement. Our mutual interests begin to hide under the guise of peace and stability and manifest how important it is for us to maintain good relations with America at all costs and that it is impossible for us to move forward without America’s cooperation.

Conversely, cooperation between the two countries continues in various fields encompassing education, health, climate change, women empowerment, agriculture and energy. Apart from this, the US is also the largest export market of Pakistan and exports to the United States during the last financial year were 6.74 billion dollars. Yet, the US takes a lot in exchange for bestowing something and even after that, demand of “Do More” continues to repeat. Therefore, it would be unwise to expect a little more from the US in the light of past trade.

We often fail to learn from past mistakes and instead repeat them, leading to further suffering. Pakistan continues to bear the consequences of damage inflicted by the US. Recent remarks by the US State Department warning against Afghanistan becoming a terrorist haven signal a potential attempt to involve Pakistan again. We must tread carefully in all matters to safeguard our interests.

Pakistan must build positive ties with the US in order to the Gwadar project and carry on with the Pak-Iran gas project, but it cannot compromise its interests by acting as the United States proxy or antagonize its friendly neighbouring countries. People who are thinking of maintaining relations with the US at all costs and those giving such advice should also ponder a little in the national interest, otherwise, their counsel make matters worse to the point where Pakistan will have to pay a heavy price for decades to come.

—The writer is a regular columnist, based in Lahore.

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