'Everything will be forgiven': How the US got Pakistan's support for Ukraine after aiding Imran Khan's ouster

Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement of 'special military operations' in Ukraine coincided with former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to Russia in February 2022. Two months later, Khan was ousted from power after a no-trust-vote which the Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf leader in a purported faux pas during a television address claimed was orchestrated at the US' behest. Later, the new Pakistani government underShehbaz Sharif secretly sent weapons to Ukraine in exchange for a bailout from the International Monetary Fund, the money Pakistan desperately needed to stay afloat.

The above sequence of events, reflecting a behind-the-scenes manoeuvring between Washington and Rawalpindi are connected, according to an investigative report by The Intercept. It was basically a 'bullets for bailout' arrangement.

Rawalpindi is home to the Pakistani army's headquarters, a short distance away from the capital Islamabad.

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The Intercept report cited two sources with knowledge of the arrangement and access to internal Pakistani and American government documents to confirm the arrangement between the US and Pakistan, with Islamabad's authority deeply embedded within its military-intelligence nexus to take such strategic calls.

The report claims that ahead of Imran Khan's ouster from power, the US 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.

Also watch |Reports: Pakistan steps up arms supply to Ukraine | Russia-Ukraine War

They warned of dire consequences if Khan remained in power and promised "all would be forgiven" if he were removed.

The developments in Pakistan after April 2022, the month when Khan was ousted from power, have put the South Asian nation among the ones who ended up assisting Ukraine's war effort against Russia.

Following the secret arms supply to Ukraine, an IMF bailout was reportedly arranged for Pakistan at the US' behest, which allowed Islamabad to postpone -- if not prevent -- the economic catastrophe.

What does it mean?

Analysts cited by The Intercept said that Pakistani democracy may arguably be a casualty of war in Ukraine.

"Pakistani democracy may ultimately be a casualty of Ukraine’s counteroffensive," Arif Rafiq, a nonresident scholar at the Middle East Institute and specialist on Pakistan, was quoted as saying by The Intercept.

Pakistan dismisses report

In response to media inquiries, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the spokesperson for Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reportedly rubbished the investigative report as "baseless and fabricated."

She said, “IMF Standby Arrangement for Pakistan was successfully negotiated between Pakistan and the IMF to implement difficult but essential economic reforms. Giving any other colour to these negotiations is disingenuous. Pakistan maintains a policy of strict neutrality in the dispute between Ukraine and Russia and in that context, does not provide any arms and ammunition to them. Pakistan’s defense exports are always accompanied by strict end user requirements.”

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