JONATHAN SHAW — Pakistan’s image in the West as a lawless place in which no westerner is safe was illustrated by President Trump’s infamous tweet in early 2018, in which he described the country as an unreliable ally that has ‘given the United States nothing but lies and deceit’ when it comes to the Global War on Terror. But that is not the country I recognized when I recently visited, after a ten year hiatus. What I saw was a nation which has transformed its internal security. Kensington Palace is right to describe the Cambridges’ visit as ‘showcasing Pakistan as it is today’. It is a timely and healthy corrective to common perceptions.
But the Global War On Terror (GWOT) effort has cost Pakistan.
Now is the time for the world to give it more respect.
As Spinoza observed, ‘Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice’. Khan and General Bajwa seem to have that virtue.
