‘Dismantling structures that are in US’ best interests’: Researcher says Pakistan has always been successful in duping Washington
"The Americans took many years to learn they got duped. Then they hate the same Pakistanis, but only after causing much harm to India and to Western interests," said researcher Rajiv Malhotra.
- Aug 12, 2025,
- Updated Aug 12, 2025 12:31 PM IST
Pakistan has always been successful in duping the US, who suffer from “poor memory”, said researcher, author and speaker Rajiv Malhotra. He said, however, this success of the Pakistani military’s “excellent PR” skills comes at the cost of India as well as Western interests. A similar cycle is unfolding now, with Donald Trump and Asim Munir’s suspicious bonhomie.
“Pakistan has always played the game skillfully: to entice Americans (with poor memory of the past) with fraudulent offers to sell their country cheap, in exchange for near term military support. The Americans always get duped because the Pakistani military has excellent PR skills that make westerners feel comfortable,” said Malhotra.
He added, “But every time this happened, the Americans took many years to learn they got duped. Then they hate the same Pakistanis, but only after causing much harm to India and to Western interests. We are witnessing the return of the Musharraf cycle all over again.”
Malhotra said India can hate his scenario all it wants but the Ministry of External Affairs must learn “pragmatic lessons on playing the game”. “They should understand Trump’s doctrine as a (non-intellectual) transactional combination of personal ego, and his narrow MAGA (Make America Great Again) theory,” he said.
“Sadly, this is dismantling the structures and relationships that are in America’s best interests, and pushing them into China’s arms,” said the researcher.
Malhotra’s assessment comes after the US designated Pakistan-based Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its alias, The Majeed Brigade, as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). Some experts and analysts also feel that this could be an attempt of the Washington-Islamabad duo to drag India into the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.
This is not merely a balancing act, some analysts feel – the US had designated LeT’s proxy front, The Resistance Front (TRF) a terrorist organisation. BLA’s inclusion in the list could be the Washington-Islamabad duo’s way of demonstrating that India is destabilising regional peace. That way Trump could end up putting more tariffs to take aim at the Indian economy.
Another view is that Pakistan sold the vision of oil and gas to the US, in return for designating BLA as a terrorist organisation. Balochistan has always been on the US’ radar. This just allows them to move towards it.
The US had already designated BLA as a terrorist organisation in 2019. On Monday’s notification, the US included BLA’s alias, The Majeed Brigade too. Trump administration, in the statement, added that they are committed to counter terrorism.
Pakistan has always been successful in duping the US, who suffer from “poor memory”, said researcher, author and speaker Rajiv Malhotra. He said, however, this success of the Pakistani military’s “excellent PR” skills comes at the cost of India as well as Western interests. A similar cycle is unfolding now, with Donald Trump and Asim Munir’s suspicious bonhomie.
“Pakistan has always played the game skillfully: to entice Americans (with poor memory of the past) with fraudulent offers to sell their country cheap, in exchange for near term military support. The Americans always get duped because the Pakistani military has excellent PR skills that make westerners feel comfortable,” said Malhotra.
He added, “But every time this happened, the Americans took many years to learn they got duped. Then they hate the same Pakistanis, but only after causing much harm to India and to Western interests. We are witnessing the return of the Musharraf cycle all over again.”
Malhotra said India can hate his scenario all it wants but the Ministry of External Affairs must learn “pragmatic lessons on playing the game”. “They should understand Trump’s doctrine as a (non-intellectual) transactional combination of personal ego, and his narrow MAGA (Make America Great Again) theory,” he said.
“Sadly, this is dismantling the structures and relationships that are in America’s best interests, and pushing them into China’s arms,” said the researcher.
Malhotra’s assessment comes after the US designated Pakistan-based Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its alias, The Majeed Brigade, as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). Some experts and analysts also feel that this could be an attempt of the Washington-Islamabad duo to drag India into the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.
This is not merely a balancing act, some analysts feel – the US had designated LeT’s proxy front, The Resistance Front (TRF) a terrorist organisation. BLA’s inclusion in the list could be the Washington-Islamabad duo’s way of demonstrating that India is destabilising regional peace. That way Trump could end up putting more tariffs to take aim at the Indian economy.
Another view is that Pakistan sold the vision of oil and gas to the US, in return for designating BLA as a terrorist organisation. Balochistan has always been on the US’ radar. This just allows them to move towards it.
The US had already designated BLA as a terrorist organisation in 2019. On Monday’s notification, the US included BLA’s alias, The Majeed Brigade too. Trump administration, in the statement, added that they are committed to counter terrorism.