Ryan Grim of The Intercept reports: “U.S. helped Pakistan cancel elections with a controversial IMF bailout–funded by a secret Ukraine weapons program.” He writes: “Pakistani arms sales to the U.S. helped to facilitate a controversial bailout from the International Monetary Fund earlier this year, according to two sources with knowledge of the arrangement, with confirmation from internal Pakistani and American government documents. The arms sales were made for the purpose of supplying the Ukrainian military — marking Pakistani involvement in a conflict it had faced U.S. pressure to take sides on. “The revelation is a window into the kind of behind-the-scenes maneuvering between financial and political elites that rarely is exposed to the public, even as the public pays the price. Harsh structural policy reforms demanded by the IMF as terms for its recent bailout kicked off an ongoing round of protests in the country. Major strikes have taken place throughout Pakistan in recent weeks in response to the measures. “The protests are the latest chapter in a year-and-a-half-long political crisis roiling the country. In April 2022, the Pakistani military, with the encouragement of the U.S., helped organize a no-confidence vote to remove Prime Minister Imran Khan. Ahead of the ouster, State Department diplomats privately expressed anger to their Pakistani counterparts over what they called Pakistan’s ‘aggressively neutral’ stance on the Ukraine war under Khan. They warned of dire consequences if Khan remained in power and promised ‘all would be forgiven’ if he were removed. “Since Khan’s ouster, Pakistan has emerged as a useful supporter of the U.S. and its allies in the war, assistance that has now been repaid with an IMF loan. The emergency loan allowed the new Pakistani government to put off a looming economic catastrophe and indefinitely postpone elections — time it used to launch a nationwide crackdown on civil society and jail Khan.”
Last month, Ryan Grim and Murtaza Hussain of The Intercept reported: “Secret Pakistan Cable Documents U.S. Pressure to Remove Imran Khan.”
The following are available for interviews on these reports and the wider context:
ABDUL JABBAR, ajabbar102@gmail.com Jabbar is emeritus professor of interdisciplinary studies, City College of San Francisco, California.
JUNAID AHMAD, junaidsahmad@gmail.
Ahmad teaches law, religion, and world politics in Pakistan and is the director of the Center for the Study of Islam and Decoloniality.
