THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Bal Ram Sampla
Geopolitics
There is a particular kind of hypocrisy that powerful nations practise so routinely that they no longer feel the need to disguise it. The United States of America has, over decades, elevated this art to near-perfection. Nowhere is this visible today than in Washington’s relationship with Pakistan — a country its own Congressional Research Service (CRS) has just formally documented as the world’s foremost hub of active terrorism, while its President showers its army chief with the warmth ordinarily reserved for trusted allies and personal friends.
On March 25, 2026, the US Congressional Research Service published a report that named Pakistan as the world’s leading hub of active terrorism. It listed fifteen militant groups operating openly on Pakistani soil — including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Al-Qaeda, and the Islamic State. It noted that terror deaths in Pakistan hit 4,000 in 2025 — the worst in a decade. It concluded that despite years of military operations, these groups remain alive, armed, and active. Plain and damning.
At almost the same moment, President Trump was calling Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir “my favourite field marshal,” “a great fighter,” and “an exceptional human being.” He welcomed Munir to the White House. He raised the Kashmir issue — India’s most sensitive territorial dispute — over a dozen times with Pakistani representatives. He even endorsed Pakistan’s version of the May 2025 military confrontation with India.
Two arms of the same government. Two completely opposite messages. One America condemning Pakistan on paper; another America embracing its generals in person.
This is not a mistake. It is not confusion. It is a choice — and America has been making this same choice for seventy years.
The reasons are not hard to understand, even if they are hard to respect. Pakistan has nuclear weapons. That single fact has always made Washington nervous about pushing Islamabad too hard. A cornered, desperate Pakistani military sitting atop a nuclear arsenal is a nightmare no American president wants to provoke. So every administration, Democrat or Republican, has found reasons to look the other way.
Today there is an additional reason: money. Pakistan has offered America access to vast reserves of rare earth minerals — lithium, copper, and other materials critical to modern technology and defence. Trump, who thinks primarily in terms of deals, has responded enthusiastically. In this transaction, terrorism is simply not on the invoice.
Pakistan, for its part, has learned to play Washington expertly. It nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the India-Pakistan ceasefire — knowing full well that flattering Trump’s ego is the surest path to his favour. It positioned itself as a potential mediator between the US and Iran, making itself seem indispensable. General Munir walked into the White House not as the chief of an army that shelters terrorists, but as a regional power broker America cannot afford to alienate.
And so the pattern repeats. America’s Secretary of State assures India that “growing engagement with Pakistan does not come at India’s expense.” It is a sentence crafted to mean nothing and offend no one. India has heard variations of it since 2001.
The cruelest part of this story is what it says to the victims. The families of the 166 people killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The soldiers killed in Pulwama in 2019. The tourists massacred in Pahalgam in 2025. America’s behaviour tells them, in the plainest terms, that their lives were less important than Washington’s strategic calculations.
The Congressional report is valuable. It states the truth. But truth, in international relations, is rarely enough on its own. The report will be filed, cited in future debates, and otherwise ignored by the people who actually make policy.
Because America does not have a Pakistan problem. America has a mirror problem. It sees clearly what Pakistan is — its own documents prove that. It simply chooses, again and again, to look away.
That is the double game. And until Washington decides that principle matters as much as profit, the game will continue — and the rest of the world will keep paying the price.
References
1.https://www.businesstoday.in/india/story/from-let-to-jem-us-report-flags-pakistan-as-hub-for-terror-groups-targeting-india-kashmir-522841-2026-03-28
2.https://www.opindia.com/2026/03/planning-attacks-india-seeking-annexation-jammu-kashmir-us-congress-report-pakistan-terror-ecosystem/
3.https://organiser.org/2026/03/29/346200/bharat/us-report-flags-pakistan-based-terror-groups-targeting-india-kashmir-remains-key-concern/
4.https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/sr145.pdf
5.https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47565
