On March 4, President Donald Trump delivered a joint address to the U.S. Congress. During his hour-and-a-half-long speech, he recapped his work as the 47th president since beginning his second term on January 20, the day he proclaimed “the dawn of the golden age of America.” Mostly Trump talked about his efforts related to domestic policies: loosening economic regulations, cutting federal employment, and cracking down on immigration.
Trump also highlighted that the United States was “standing strong against the forces of radical Islamic terrorism.” He referenced the Kabul airport bombing of August 26, 2021, in which 13 U.S. service members and 169 Afghan nationals were killed by a suicide bomber affiliated with the Islamic State in Afghanistan during the withdrawal of the U.S. forces. Trump criticized the way the withdrawal took place under the Biden administration, calling it “perhaps the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country.” However, Trump said, he was “pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity, and he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice.”
To the surprise of many who believed that Pakistan no longer was relevant to Washington, Trump then thanked the government of Pakistan for their help in this high-profile arrest: “I want to thank, especially, the government of Pakistan for helping arrest this monster.” Moreover, as per the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Waltz also called Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on the same day and “conveyed President Trump’s appreciation and thanks for Government of Pakistan’s efforts in countering terrorism.”
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took to X and thanked Trump for “acknowledging and appreciating Pakistan’s role and support in counter terrorism efforts across the region.” He also confirmed that the Islamic State Khorasan Province commander in question, Mohammad Sharifullah, was a national of Afghanistan and was arrested in an operation in the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Sharif further highlighted that Pakistan has lost 80,000 soldiers and civilians in the fight against terrorism. Stressing the “unflinching” resolve of the country’s leadership and people “to eradicate the menace of terrorism from our country,” Sharif added, “We will continue to partner closely with the United States in securing regional peace and stability.”
The arrest of Sharifullah had been in the works for months. Reportedly, Trump’s newly appointed CIA director John Ratcliffe raised the issue of the ISKs commander on his second day in office during the first call with the head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, Lt. Gen. Asim Malik. Ratcliffe reiterated the same last month during his meeting with Malik on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. According to official sources, Sharifullah had been under the CIA’s surveillance for some time, but the U.S. agency received specific intelligence about his location in recent days, which was provided to the Pakistani agency. An elite Pakistani unit then captured him near the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
It is also claimed that Ratcliffe told his Pakistani counterpart that if Islamabad wanted better relations with the new Trump administration, this case should be pursued on a priority basis. Relations between the two countries have been low since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. It seemed that the partners were growing apart after Pakistan’s role in Taliban-U.S. mediation came to an end with the Doha Agreement. It remains to be seen whether, as Ratcliffe had implied, overall relations between Washington and Islamabad will improve owing to the cooperation that led to Sharifullah’s arrest.
There are some promising signs. Last month, the Trump administration released $397 million to Pakistan for a U.S.-backed program that monitors Pakistan’s use of F-16 fighter jets to warrant that these jets are used for operations against terrorists and not against Pakistan’s arch-rival India. The decision to exempt this program from a broader freeze on U.S. foreign aid shows the shift in Washington’s Pakistan policy vis-à-vis its F-16 program.
For Pakistan, it was a welcome shift, especially as its defense relations with the United States have been quite low since the mid-2010s. In 2016, the U.S. Congress blocked a subsidy sought by Pakistan to purchase eight additional F-16C aircraft under the U.S. Foreign Military Financing program. Islamabad was forced to either walk out of the deal or pay for the full price for the fighters; it opted for the former.
The recent engagements between Islamabad and Washington are seen as a normalization of ties between the two countries, which have had lukewarm relations since the early 2010s. Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States, Maleeha Lodhi, believes that the joint effort to arrest Sharifullah indicates strong counterterrorism cooperation between the United States and Pakistan – and a sign that they maintain strong military-to-military ties despite the dearth of adequate engagement at the political level.
It is of utmost importance for both countries to maintain military-to-military ties due to growing terrorist attacks in the region, particularly after the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul. The Islamic State and the Pakistani Taliban have both stepped up attacks since August 2021, making it essential for both Pakistan and the United States to maintain or even grow their military-to-military relations. Trump’s public praise for Pakistan is an opportunity for both to mend and reset their political relations, which Pakistan would certainly desire given its growing economic woes. Yet Trump’s unpredictable approach to political and diplomatic dealings makes it hard to come to any conclusion with regards to bilateral relations between the two, at least for the time being.
