US President Donald Trump’s sudden softness towards Pakistan, particularly in the aftermath of India’s decisive Operation Sindoor, is not merely puzzling—it is deeply troubling. At a time when the world has once again been confronted with Pakistan’s enduring role as a nursery of terror, Washington’s selective silence raises uncomfortable questions about America’s credibility in the global war on terrorism.
The recent terror attack at Bondi Beach in Australia should have been a wake-up call. Fifteen Jewish civilians celebrating a religious festival were brutally killed, and twenty-nine others were injured, in what is now being confirmed as a targeted terror assault, akin to Pahalgam in India’s Jammu and Kashmir. One of the attackers, Naveed (also reported as Naved), has been identified as a Pakistani national. His father was killed in an exchange of fire with police, while Naveed himself was dramatically overpowered by a courageous Australian civilian—an act of extraordinary bravery that prevented even greater carnage. Subsequent investigations have reportedly established the attacker’s (father and son) links to Pakistan.
This was not an isolated crime of passion. It was a terror attack, aimed at Jewish civilians, in a country with some of the world’s strictest gun laws. Australia is not the United States, where firearms are ubiquitous and mass shootings tragically routine. The very fact that such an attack could be executed there points to meticulous planning, ideological indoctrination, and external networks—hallmarks of Islamist terror infrastructure that Pakistan has long been accused of nurturing.
Given these facts, the world expected the President of the United States—who stormed back to power promising to crush Islamic terrorism and dismantle the “deep state”—to speak clearly and forcefully. Instead, Trump’s response was conspicuously muted. There was no direct condemnation of Pakistan, no warning, no recalibration of policy. This silence was as loud as it was disturbing.
Israel, understandably, reacted with fury. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly criticised the Australian government for failing to protect Israeli nationals and Jewish civilians. Yet, Washington—Israel’s closest ally—chose caution over conviction. For a leader who brands himself as the strongest defender of Israel, Trump’s lukewarm posture exposed a glaring contradiction.
This inconsistency is not new. Trump’s second term has been marked by erratic foreign policy and grandiose claims that collapse under scrutiny. He boasts of having “stopped wars,” yet reality tells a different story. The Russia–Ukraine war grinds on. Israel remains locked in a brutal conflict in Gaza. India-Pakistan tensions remain unresolved, despite Trump’s repeated—and demonstrably false—claims of having brokered peace.
Even Southeast Asia has not been spared, with fresh hostilities between Cambodia and Thailand exposing the hollowness of Trump’s self-declared peacemaker image. Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen strategic silence, allowing military leadership to speak through action after Pakistan’s repeated provocations. Trump, however, continues to peddle half-truths and exaggerations.
Against this backdrop, Washington’s decision to extend nearly $1.5 billion in assistance to Pakistan—ostensibly to “fight terror”—borders on absurdity. Can there be a crueler joke? Pakistan has mastered the art of playing both arsonist and firefighter: nurturing terror groups, exporting jihad, and then collecting Western aid by promising to combat the very monsters it created.
The hypocrisy deepens further. Trump publicly embraces Syria’s terror-linked leadership one moment, only to threaten bombing campaigns the next over the killing of American nationals. Such incoherence undermines US moral authority and emboldens rogue states.
History offers painful lessons. The capture of Ajmal Kasab during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks exposed Pakistan’s terror ecosystem beyond denial. Today, the arrest of 24-year-old Naveed in Australia—after the murder of fifteen Jews—adds yet another chapter to that damning record. How many more massacres will it take for Washington to stop pretending?
If the United States genuinely wishes to remain a champion of global peace, it must abandon its dangerous indulgence of Pakistan. Arming, funding, and legitimising a state repeatedly linked to terrorism does not buy stability; it purchases future bloodshed.
Trump must decide whether he wants to be remembered as a leader who confronted global terror—or one who enabled it through wilful blindness. If America continues down this path, it risks not only moral bankruptcy but strategic irrelevance in an emerging new world order.
