Shashi Tharoor warns: 'America's illusions on Pakistan more dangerous than ever'
Tharoor said Pakistan's generals had "lost every conventional war they've fought" but had "mastered a far more insidious weapon: nuclear blackmail."
- Aug 18, 2025,
- Updated Aug 18, 2025 5:39 PM IST
Congress MP and former diplomat Shashi Tharoor has warned that U.S. indulgence of Pakistan's military poses rising dangers for India and global stability. "Today, though, America's illusions are more dangerous than ever," Tharoor wrote in an opinion piece for NDTV.
Tharoor said Pakistan's generals had "lost every conventional war they've fought" but had "mastered a far more insidious weapon: nuclear blackmail." He added: "It's not the bomb itself that poses the gravest danger, but the hand that hovers over the button. Today, that hand belongs to ‘Field Marshal’ Asim Munir."
He cited Munir's remarks describing Kashmir as Pakistan's "jugular vein" and justifying the impossibility of Muslims living in non-Muslim majority India. "To suggest that Muslims cannot live in a non-Muslim majority country was all the more preposterous for being made to a Pakistani diaspora audience living in the United States," Tharoor wrote.
Tharoor recalled Munir reportedly warning at a White House dinner that Pakistan could "take half the world down" if provoked. This statement, he added, should have triggered alarm, not applause. "Instead, it was met with diplomatic indulgence, a familiar pattern in the US-Pakistan relationship, where strategic convenience often trumps...moral clarity," he said.
For decades, Tharoor argued, Pakistan's military has used its arsenal "not as a deterrent, but as a diplomatic cudgel." He referenced the A.Q. Khan network that trafficked technology to North Korea, Iran, and Libya. "Yet, Pakistan faced no meaningful consequences, thanks to the world's...leniency and the enduring illusion of partnership," he wrote.
Tharoor questioned continued U.S. partnership with Pakistan after its exit from Afghanistan. "Now that US forces are no longer deployed in Afghanistan, what is it that makes Americans regard Pakistan as a partner?” he asked, pointing to U.S. praise for Pakistan’s counter-terrorism efforts. "Surely Pakistan doesn't need applause for defending itself?"
On the US-Pakistan Counterterrorism Dialogue held in Islamabad this month, Tharoor wrote: "The irony is that the US simply overlooks Pakistan's inconsistencies, including the military's confirmed ties to many extremist groups it has incubated on its soil to use against its neighbours. And Pakistan, as we saw in Pahalgam, continues to build on its long record of employing terrorism as a strategic tool."
Referring to the Pahalgam terror attack, Tharoor wrote: "Munir's recent chest-thumping in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack is virtually an admission of responsibility." He warned that Pakistan’s military "now threatens even India’s water supplies, invoking nuclear escalation as a response to any future Indian dam-building."
Tharoor concluded: "India must remain vigilant, but so must the world. The danger is not just Pakistan's bomb – it is the cosy geopolitical arrangement that allows nuclear threats to flourish unchecked."
Congress MP and former diplomat Shashi Tharoor has warned that U.S. indulgence of Pakistan's military poses rising dangers for India and global stability. "Today, though, America's illusions are more dangerous than ever," Tharoor wrote in an opinion piece for NDTV.
Tharoor said Pakistan's generals had "lost every conventional war they've fought" but had "mastered a far more insidious weapon: nuclear blackmail." He added: "It's not the bomb itself that poses the gravest danger, but the hand that hovers over the button. Today, that hand belongs to ‘Field Marshal’ Asim Munir."
He cited Munir's remarks describing Kashmir as Pakistan's "jugular vein" and justifying the impossibility of Muslims living in non-Muslim majority India. "To suggest that Muslims cannot live in a non-Muslim majority country was all the more preposterous for being made to a Pakistani diaspora audience living in the United States," Tharoor wrote.
Tharoor recalled Munir reportedly warning at a White House dinner that Pakistan could "take half the world down" if provoked. This statement, he added, should have triggered alarm, not applause. "Instead, it was met with diplomatic indulgence, a familiar pattern in the US-Pakistan relationship, where strategic convenience often trumps...moral clarity," he said.
For decades, Tharoor argued, Pakistan's military has used its arsenal "not as a deterrent, but as a diplomatic cudgel." He referenced the A.Q. Khan network that trafficked technology to North Korea, Iran, and Libya. "Yet, Pakistan faced no meaningful consequences, thanks to the world's...leniency and the enduring illusion of partnership," he wrote.
Tharoor questioned continued U.S. partnership with Pakistan after its exit from Afghanistan. "Now that US forces are no longer deployed in Afghanistan, what is it that makes Americans regard Pakistan as a partner?” he asked, pointing to U.S. praise for Pakistan’s counter-terrorism efforts. "Surely Pakistan doesn't need applause for defending itself?"
On the US-Pakistan Counterterrorism Dialogue held in Islamabad this month, Tharoor wrote: "The irony is that the US simply overlooks Pakistan's inconsistencies, including the military's confirmed ties to many extremist groups it has incubated on its soil to use against its neighbours. And Pakistan, as we saw in Pahalgam, continues to build on its long record of employing terrorism as a strategic tool."
Referring to the Pahalgam terror attack, Tharoor wrote: "Munir's recent chest-thumping in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack is virtually an admission of responsibility." He warned that Pakistan’s military "now threatens even India’s water supplies, invoking nuclear escalation as a response to any future Indian dam-building."
Tharoor concluded: "India must remain vigilant, but so must the world. The danger is not just Pakistan's bomb – it is the cosy geopolitical arrangement that allows nuclear threats to flourish unchecked."