It remains to be seen whether the US Embassy retracts its claim that ‘Babar Azam ain’t shit’. “By bringing Babar Azam into the diplomatic trash-talk, the US is clearly targeting Pakistan’s valuable assets, which Washington still fears could land in the wrong hands,” notes Michael Kugelman, Senior Associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Centre. The timing of the tweet is also drawing scepticism among security analysts, given that Babar Azam was this week announced as the national team’s captain for all three formats. “Babar Azam is a joint Pakistan-China venture and a leading project of CPEC. An attack on Babar Azam is an attack on CPEC, which is an attack on Pakistan’s sovereignty,” maintains leading security analyst and China expert Javed Miandad.

Source: Pakistan Today November 12, 2020 11:37 UTC