TOI correspondent from Washington: The US State Department on Monday announced the closure of its consulate in Peshawar, a move that highlights the stark contradiction in the Trump administration’s policy toward Pakistan: warm rhetoric and gushing praise at the summit, but a steady drag on diplomatic infrastructure on the ground.The decision, which officials framed as a matter of “safety” and “effective resource management,” would shift responsibility for engagement in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, roughly 114 miles away. The shutdown comes as Trump has publicly praised Pakistan’s leadership and lavished extraordinary accolades on the country’s “field marshal,” whom Trump admired, for his help as a mediator with Tehran.
The State Department offered a familiar quartet of justifications: cost savings, reorganization, changing logistical needs, and security concerns in closing the Peshawar consulate. Officials also point to the center’s diminished strategic role since the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, when Peshawar served as a major logistics hub. Security concerns were also noted, with recent unrest in the area increasing risks to staff.
The closure of Peshawar is the first permanent closure of the US diplomatic mission abroad during Trump’s second term. Across the Middle East and South Asia, many US consulates have temporarily suspended operations amid regional tensions, particularly in the wake of the military escalation involving Iran and the issuance of a “global caution” advisory earlier this year. Meanwhile, visa services have been curtailed in many locations under expanded restrictions and “extreme vetting” policies.Behind these operational transformations lies a more profound transformation: the systematic reduction in the size of the US diplomatic corps. In the final phase of the “comprehensive force reduction,” more than 200 career diplomats, including about 246 Foreign Service personnel, were laid off on Monday. The cuts have disproportionately targeted offices dealing with refugees, human rights and democracy promotion.
The administration publicly justified this by arguing that such offices were “vulnerable to ideological takeover,” signaling a deliberate shift away from the traditional pillars of American diplomacy.Further exacerbating the unrest was the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, long a cornerstone of American soft power. As its functions were reduced or absorbed, many Foreign Office roles were deemed redundant.Staff have reportedly arrived at work in recent days under instructions to bring passports and government equipment, ready to hand them in at short notice – a process that has fueled what one insider described as “an atmosphere of quiet panic.”The troop reduction has coincided with a stunning shift in the way the administration conducts high-stakes diplomacy. Instead of relying primarily on career diplomats and subject matter experts, key negotiations—particularly those related to Iran’s nuclear program—have increasingly been handled by political loyalists and unofficial envoys, including Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.There is no formal diplomatic training or deep technical expertise in nuclear nonproliferation, an area that typically requires years of specialized experience.At the top of the diplomatic hierarchy, Marco Rubio has an unusually broad assignment. In addition to serving as Secretary of State, he has been assigned multiple overlapping roles in national security and policy coordination, raising questions about the scope of the administration and strategic coherence. On Tuesday, he replaced White House Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt, who was on maternity leave. In a raucous press conference, there were no pregnant pauses. “It’s a mess, guys,” Rubio once said while dealing with the vociferous press.
