US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R Sherman's comments about Pakistan in an interview in India prior to her trip to Islamabad has drawn a new controversy. In the clip that's been widely circulated since it was posted Friday, the day of her high level meetings in Islamabad, Sherman says the US is not interested in building a broad based relationship with Pakistan.
She also said her administration no longer wanted to view India Pakistan with a hyphen ie as two separate entities.
Sherman was in conversation with Jamshyd N. Godrej, the Chairman of the Board of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Limited at an event organized by Ananta Center in Mumbai.
She also lauded India for its role as president at the UNSC.
She was responding to the question about her trip the following day to Pakistan to which Sherman replied it was for a "very specific and narrow" purpose after which she discussed the situation in Afghanistan.
Reactions to the release of this video have been swift with many expressing surprise given that she seemed to tweet an encouraging message about her meeting with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureishi.
But social media users were already alerted to some of the prevailing tension between the two countries especially after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
One user described Sherman's comments in Mumbai as "not what Pakistan wanted to hear."
One social media user tweeted that Sherman was received at the Foreign Office by a mid-career officer and not her counterpart, alluding to the prevailing tension.
There are also reports that Prime Minister Imran Khan will not be meeting with her.
Journalist Najam Sethi, who hosts his own talk show and is often cited for his incisive insight, tweeted that Pakistan needed to "wake up and smell the coffee."
Writing in Foreign Policy on Sherman's trip to the subcontinent, Michael Kugelman said: "The United States and India’s relationship is flush with momentum, although it is not immune to setbacks. Meanwhile, its relationship with Pakistan faces an uncertain future—but it still has potential for cooperation after the withdrawal from Afghanistan."
Although he did write that Pakistan and the US have reasons to cooperate in the immediate term, "Ultimately, it is China that will cast a long shadow over the U.S.-India-Pakistan triangle. Beijing is a close ally of Islamabad and a bitter rival of Washington and New Delhi—ensuring smooth sailing on the U.S.-India side and choppy seas for the United States and Pakistan. In due course, there will likely be a reversion to the status quo in both relationships."
