It is time for America to realise that it needs to change its foreign policy and strategy especially after being obsessed with South Asia. Its failure in Afghanistan is already costing the peace of neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Iran and some of the Arab states.

The message in US President Trump's tweet depicts either a failure or regret of the steps taken by his predecessors, especially by Barack Obama.

The “lies and deceit” seems more like "grapes are sour" as the money invested in a state did not bring up much of a fruitful result. The former policy required "blood for money" and before that it may have been "weapons for money", vice versa. Now following the pursuits of the current president of the US it seems like "money for money" scheme.

Trump’s national security strategy is more of a notice that who still remains on the survival list. The strategy of killing the aid then isolating a state economically is a very old tactic but useless if not considering the fact that there is always another market to buy aid from especially when the market is cheaper and 'hand in hand' with the buyer.

America seems more helpless than it was in the past, instead of snivelling over its lost sycophancy needs to understand the fact that sovereignty of every state is as important as America's own.

After Russia, long-time ally China defended Pakistan’s record of combating terrorism. Washington had to come up with another plan of dealing with Pakistan, who it has on numerous occasions accused of sheltering militants. As on Thursday, a press release from the US State Department stated that the United States has placed Pakistan on a special watch list for "severe violations of religious freedom". The move means that being on the watch list Pakistan is a step away from being included in the "Countries of Particular Concern" list.

This is mere a melodrama to keep a check on religious activities of the country. Religion being the sensitive topic, it's more like trying to hold sand in hand. No matter how hard the US tries to put some grip on religious affairs of a state for gaining the support of the minorities, this is a foul reason overall.

By cutting the aid to Pakistan which it no doubt gave "foolishly", the US surely wants to double the aids of India and Afghanistan in return. The double game is played by US itself not releasing its aftermath which, after a while, will eventually end up changing its foreign policy again calling the previous one as another naive move.

Instead of New Year's greetings, the President of the United Sates had been busy thinking about how to get under the skin of Pakistan this year, and day by day he is coming up with different strategies as if the internal threats were not worth fighting for. It is not the first time since Washington has cut down its aid to Pakistan as back in 2011 the circumstances were much more severe than today when the discovery of the world's most wanted man Osama bin Laden drew suspicion of being sheltered by Pakistan's intelligence agency.

Now when America's footprint in Afghanistan is much smaller than it was during the height of the war, and it needs access to Pakistan's supply lines and airspace. And Pakistan holds much stronger influence over the Taliban, its cooperation is necessary for peace talks in the region. Therefore, the US cannot completely rupture its fractured relationship with Pakistan.

The long hanging question that arises is that what Pakistan must do in such turbulent times? Firstly, Pakistan should improve its bilateral relationship with Russia, Turkey and Iran just like it has with China. Secondly, instead of adding fuel to the fire, Pakistan should cash in on its ‘diplomatic aggression’ card; by blocking its roads to US for supplies to NATO troops in the landlocked Afghanistan. Thirdly, Pakistan should improve its industry, where CPEC is no longer used a bridge that binds regions but also making proper use of Balochistan then it no longer has to depend upon foreign aid.