If flattery were foreign policy, Pakistan would be a superpower by now. From Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif showering praise on Donald Trump in Italy to Defence Minister Khawaja Asif practically begging him for help on TV, Islamabad’s new diplomatic playbook is clear: flatter Trump, blame India, and pray for luck. As border clashes with the Taliban lay bare Pakistan’s weak military and growing isolation, the country seems to have traded diplomacy for desperation. What was once a swaggering military power now looks like a nervous student trying to please a teacher who’s barely paying attention, and who cares more about winning another “peace prize” than fixing Pakistan’s chaos.
Khawaja Asif’s Trump sermon
In a fawning display on GeoTV, Khawaja Asif called Trump the “first president who has stopped wars,” praising him as a peacemaker unlike his predecessors. “I think presidents in America have been responsible for wars. This is the first president (Trump) who has stopped wars. In the last 15-20 years, the US has sponsored wars, and he (Trump) is the first president to negotiate peace. If he wants to look into the Pakistan-Afghanistan war, he is most welcome,” Asif said.
The statement came as Islamabad and the Taliban agreed to a fragile ceasefire after a week of border clashes and Pakistani air strikes that left dozens dead. Having failed to control its own creation, Pakistan now seeks Trump’s intervention to “solve” yet another crisis of its own making.
Trump’s ‘Peace Trophy’ ambition
Interestingly, Trump himself hinted at a possible intervention. During the Gaza peace summit in Egypt, he quipped, “I hear there is a war now between Pakistan and Afghanistan. I said, I'll have to wait till I get back - I am doing another one. Because I am good at solving wars.”
It was the kind of boast Pakistan’s leaders were waiting for -- an invitation to flatter. And flatter they did. The idea that Trump, who has turned global diplomacy into a reality show, could broker peace between Pakistan and the Taliban has found more traction in Islamabad than any rational analysis of its security blunders.
Enter Shehbaz Sharif, Trump’s new cheerleader
Not to be left behind, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif joined the Trump praise bandwagon at the Gaza Peace Summit in Italy last week. In a performance more suited to a fan club than a diplomatic forum, Sharif credited Trump for “ending the conflict with India” and even proposed his name for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The over-the-top endorsement quickly drew ridicule online, with Pakistani users branding their Prime Minister a “bootlicker.” The speech sparked mockery across social media, where many questioned whether Pakistan’s foreign policy had been reduced to handing out imaginary awards to foreign leaders.
Behind the buttering: Panic and isolation
Pakistan’s desperation for US mediation is not born out of admiration but anxiety. Its military has suffered heavy losses in border clashes with the Taliban, which claimed to have killed 58 Pakistani soldiers and seized tanks and weapons. The optics of Taliban fighters posing with Pakistani uniforms and T-55 tanks were humiliating for a military that once prided itself on being South Asia’s most powerful.
Asif even went so far as to blame India for the crisis. “I have my doubts if the ceasefire will hold, because the decisions of the (Afghan) Taliban are being sponsored by Delhi... Right now, Kabul is fighting a proxy war for Delhi,” he told GeoTV. The bizarre claim only underscores how Pakistan’s leadership is trying to externalise an internal failure -- one that stems from its decades-long policy of nurturing the very militant networks now turning their guns on it.
A ceasefire born of begging
The current ceasefire between Pakistan and the Taliban was brokered with help from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, after Islamabad reportedly pleaded with mediators to intervene. According to Tolo News, Pakistani officials told the mediators, “For God’s sake, stop Afghans from fighting.”
Such appeals mark a steep fall from the swagger Pakistan once projected as a regional powerbroker. The same establishment that once prided itself on “strategic depth” in Afghanistan now finds itself begging for respite from those very militants.
Flattery will get you nowhere
Khawaja Asif’s theatrics and Shehbaz Sharif’s sycophancy are not signs of diplomacy but symptoms of decay. Islamabad is struggling with a collapsing economy, an emboldened Taliban, and a growing sense of irrelevance in global affairs. By betting on Trump’s vanity instead of its own strategic reform, Pakistan is only deepening its dependency on foreign saviours.
If history is any guide, Trump may indeed enjoy the compliments, perhaps even take a meeting, but he is unlikely to fight Pakistan’s battles for it. For now, Pakistan’s leaders seem content playing court jesters on the global stage, mistaking applause for influence and flattery for foreign policy.
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