How would new US administration affect Pakistan? Shafaqna Exclusive

by Tauqeer Abbas
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Democrat Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States today, assuming the helm of a country beset by deep political divides and battered by a raging coronavirus pandemic.

Biden, 78, will become the oldest US president in history at a scaled-back ceremony in Washington that has been largely stripped of its usual pomp and circumstance, due both to the coronavirus as well as security concerns following the January 6 assault on the US Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump.

Trump departed office as the only president ever impeached twice, and with millions more out of work than when he was sworn in and 400,000 dead from the coronavirus. Under his watch, Republicans lost the presidency and both chambers of Congress. He will be forever remembered for inciting an insurrection, two weeks before Democrat Joe Biden moved into the White House, at the Capitol that left five dead, including a Capitol Police officer, and horrified the nation. It was on Trump’s on Inauguration Day, Jan 20, 2017, that he had painted a dire picture of “American carnage”.

In November, in his victory speech in his hometown, Wilmington, Biden pledged to unite the country as he called it ‘a time to heal in America’. “I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but to unify; who doesn’t see red states and blue states, only sees the United States,” Biden said.Biden is expected to issue a series of executive orders aimed at reversing some of his predecessor’s egregious excesses. Reports hint the ban on arrivals from a bunch of mainly Muslim countries will be rescinded, the US will realign itself with the Paris climate change accord, mask-wearing will be made obligatory on federal property and during interstate travel in the view of the pandemic, and restrictions on evictions and foreclosures will be extended.

Reuniting refugee children ferociously separated from their families will also be a priority. More history will be made as Kamala Harris becomes the first woman to become vice president. The former US senator from California is also the first Black person and first person of South Asian descent elected to the vice presidency and will become the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in government.

The government of Pakistan has expressed a desire to working with the winner of the United States election Joe Biden. Prime Minister Imran Khan had earlier said Pakistan wants “even-handed treatment” from the United States with respect to India, especially on the Kashmir issue.

The US Presidency affects all countries—Pakistan too has a stake as the US prepares to leave Afghanistan near our borders. As security priorities of the US change and it requires Pakistan’s facilitation of the peace process, we too must use the opportunity for better relations to improve trade ties. Both the US and Pakistan serve to benefit from bilateral trade, an area which has suffered because of the pandemic. As the US turns a new page, one which promises to be vastly different from the Trump administration, Islamabad too must identify areas of cooperation to build better and more mutually-beneficial ties with the new US administration.

Shafaqna Pakistan

pakistan.shafaqna.com

 

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