At Foggy Bottom, Kerry Glows in Cold War Warmth For Pakistan

On his 72nd birthday, US Secretary of State John Kerry still clings to the Cold War strategy to stick with Pakistan.

US Secretary of State John Kerry waves as he walks off stage after speaking at the summit in Paris, France, on the sidelines of the COP21, December 7, 2015. (Photo: AP)

(On John Kerry’s 72nd birthday, a look at his political trajectory so far)

If The New York Times chose to feature an editorial cartoon of India, in the form of an elephant, blocking the train of the Paris climate summit, it was channelling American Secretary of State John Kerry. Curiously enough, that cartoon showed the sort of pilot locomotive that was powered by scuttle full of coal, which, in the COP world is roughly equivalent to the position ISIS occupies in West Asia. If that mutated into a caricature on multiple levels, perhaps in presenting such a contradictory picture, the Times was again channelling Kerry, who wore out his flip flops during his bid to become president of the United States in 2004.

Anti-war protesters wave signs as US Secretary of State John Kerry arrives to testify to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on “US Strategy to Defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant” at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, September 17, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

Let’s just say that Kerry has remained on the track he has chugged along in this century. This, after all, is a person who as a powerful Senator voted against the 2003 Iraq War before he voted for it, and, in 2009, described Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime as “an essential player in bringing peace and stability to the region.”

He appears to have maintained that course -- after chiding India as a “challenge” in a Pre-COP21 summit interview to the Financial Times, he’s more recently taken to appreciating the “good efforts of the Indian delegation” led by Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.

US Secretary of State John Kerry gestures during a joint news conference with Pakistan’s former National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz (not pictured) in Islamabad January 13, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

Tilt Towards Pakistan

Kerry, of course, was one of the principal authors of the 2009 Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act authorising a payout of $7.5 billion to Pakistan over a five-year period, one that scripted the Obama administration’s stance of underwriting Pakistan’s bad behaviour. That may suggest a certain anti-Indian alignment to Kerry, but that would be a facile conclusion his Indian-American supporters will strongly contest.

The problem, truly, is that he belongs to a generation of Beltway policy-makers glowing in the leftover warmth from the Cold War partnership with our neighbour. That affliction still courses through Foggy Bottom, headquarters of the State Department, even as it suggests a potential nuclear deal for Pakistan, despite the dubious, if not duplicitous record of proliferation that Islamabad has earned itself.

Favouring Third Party Intervention on Kashmir

He pretty much belongs to the hyphen brigade. As he ran for president in 2004, this is how he responded to me in an email interview: “Bilateral engagement between India and Pakistan is important to resolving the dispute in Kashmir, and to combating terrorism.” He believed that “the United States has the unique ability to help this process along.”

If recent rumours are true, he may be reviving that mediatory stand. On Afghanistan, he remarked, “Pakistan’s support is important to operations in Afghanistan.” Such mindsets are difficult to change, though, as always, he balanced that with another mantra that has since borne repetition: “I believe that the United States and India understand that the threat of international terrorism affects both democracies. I strongly believe that we must continue to work together to bolster our joint capacities.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks about the Paris attacks and ISIS at the Overseas Security Advisory Council’s (OSAC) 30th annual briefing at the State Department in Washington November 18, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

Unfinished Task In Last Lap

To be fair, he’s also cramped by his President’s craving for leaving a legacy on the global stage. Climate change is certainly one, but hoping to exit Afghanistan before he exits the Oval Office is another, therefore the desperation to mollify Pakistan thereby enabling the Kabul Government to negotiate with the Taliban.

If the latest Kandahar attack brought with it the angry resignation of Afghan intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil, that’s collateral damage. Similarly, other theatre where American absurdity is dramatically evident, the ISIS-held territory, Kerry has to ensure Obama doesn’t leave with the imagery of American boots sinking into Syrian sands.

For now, his focus is on securing an agreement in Paris, one that won’t be ratified by the US Congress during Obama’s tenure. Even if that train gets just about trundling along, at least, a win can be claimed in Washington.

The then US President George W Bush (R) makes a point while Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry looks on, during the third and final presidential candidates’ debate at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, October 13, 2004. (Photo: Reuters)

While that slow coach may well be on Kerry’s mind at this time, he probably hasn’t forgotten the Swift Boat campaign that sank his 2004 quest for American presidency. As he turns 72 today, and enters possibly his final year as Secretary of State, this Boston brahmin may well be remembered as the person who assumed charge of a department that was already going off the tracks under Hillary Clinton and turned it into a train wreck.

(Based in Toronto, Anirudh Bhattacharyya is a columnist and author of the humorous political novel The Candidate)