Bangladesh US relations, America and Bangladesh relations, US and Bangladesh relations

Bangladesh-US relations: Are other US sanctions, including the Bangladesh paramilitary force RAB, an attempt to intimidate China?


On the one hand, the United States is ignoring Bangladesh at the diplomatic level, on the other hand, it is itself giving good reasons for bringing it closer to China.

The matter was addressed in-depth with foreign affairs specialists, but first, the backdrop of the new US sanctions on Bangladesh is examined.

Background of US distance from Bangladesh

Chaudhry Aslam, the head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), mysteriously vanished in 2010.

Bangladesh's most popular paramilitary force, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), has been blamed for its sudden disappearance. Chaudhry Aslam was a wealthy ruler, yet no evidence of him has ever been discovered.

The other major cause is that of Elias Ali, a leading critic of the Awami League, who went missing in 2012 along with his driver. The incident was also blamed on RAB.

The United States has accused RAB of killing political leaders in fake encounters and said the same paramilitary forces were behind the mysterious disappearances of hundreds of key figures since 2009.

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The US, on the other hand, not only prohibited the paramilitary group but also seven senior Bangladeshi police officers from entering the country. It all happened on the occasion of International Human Rights Day.

Defense analysts are startled that the Bangladeshi army leader recently visited the United States and the two nations' armies inked an agreement to strengthen cooperation.

President Joe Biden of the United States sponsored the Virtual Democracy Summit last week, which was attended by heads of state from 110 nations, including India, but not Bangladesh.

It was a breakthrough that stunned even experts on South Asian affairs.

A reason for the surprise was that the US had invited Pakistan to the ceremony, but Pakistan had declined and apologized for not being able to attend.

Bangladesh called the US ambassador to convey its displeasure with the events. Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Abul Kalam Momin said in a sarcastic statement that "the United States has invited only weak democracies to the event." Based on sensational and exaggerated media reports.

How did the rift between the two countries come about?

According to experts, the US has long desired closer relations with Bangladesh in order to obstruct China's goals in the region. So how did such a sudden turn in the relations between the two countries come about?

Some analysts believe this is due to Bangladesh's increasing proximity to China, while others feel that if the US does so, Bangladesh will get closer to China.

Experts are also startled that Bangladesh exports vast quantities of "ready-made clothing" to the US and trains Bangladeshi police and army officers.

US State Department figures show that Bangladesh is the second-largest source of US aid after Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Announcing the ban on RAB, US Secretary of State Anthony Blanken made it clear that human rights would be an important part of his foreign policy.

He also said that his country would continue to take steps from time to time to stop human rights violations, no matter where they are in the world.

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What message does the United States want from these sanctions?

According to a foreign affairs expert, the restriction on Bangladesh is a 'signal' that the US wishes to send to countries accused of abusing human rights or democratic norms.

Experts highlighted that "murdering a monkey will terrify a lion," according to a Chinese saying. Similarly, the United States is attempting to do so. He wants to give a signal to someone but his ear is twisting.

According to Experts, the United States does not have such a strategic interest in Bangladesh or it does not have such a strategic commitment. That is why it has easily targeted Bangladesh. He claims that the prohibition will not result in any reductions in US funding to Bangladesh.

"There is only one message the US cannot publicly convey to governments where claims of abuses of democratic standards and human rights have been made: the US has greater geopolitical interests."

What is RAB?


During the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the paramilitary force was established in 2004 under the leadership of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. In the previous 20 years, Amnesty International has accused the force of staging over 1,200 false encounters.

The human rights organization Human Rights Watch has from time to time issued various reports about RAB, in which serious allegations of human rights violations have been made against RAB.

There is documentation relating to all of these incidents, so according to Noor Khan, a Bangladeshi human rights campaigner. He added in a statement that he had been urging the Bangladeshi government to form an impartial committee to look into the claims.

In a similar case in 2017, a Dhaka court sentenced three RAB operatives to death.