Kathy Gannon in Substack:
Pakistan as a possible mediator in America’s war against Iran is not a surprise. Pakistan and its powerful military leader, Gen. Asim Munir, has held meetings with both Iran and Saudi Arabia, spoke out against the war in Iran, while ensuring Saudi Arabia the security pact the two have signed is airtight and inviolable.
Powerfully Pakistan is also a nuclear power, the only one in the Islamic world. Since its inception in 1947, when carved by the departing British from a larger India, Pakistan has also had to navigate a complicated and complex neighborhood rife with border disputes, religious and economic rivalries, great wealth and great poverty. In the larger world Pakistan has maneuvered a windy and often treacherous middle road between its long-time ally China and its often fair weathered friend America.
No it is not a surprise that Pakistan could emerge to negotiate an off ramp to America and Israel’s war with Iran. As for the United States, history has shown that democratic America has never met a Pakistani General it didn’t like, whether it was military dictator Gen. Mohammad Zia-ul Haq during the 1980s Soviet Union’s invasion of neighboring Afghanistan, or Gen. Pervez Musharraf in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks on the United States. That’s not even counting President John F. Kennedy’s fond relationship with one of the country’s first military dictators. Gen. Ayub Khan.
More here.
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