In today's interconnected world, diaspora communities play a main role in shaping narratives and lobbying for policy shifts in their countries of origin. This advocacy is not new to US foreign affairs, as seen with the Cuban-American influence on the Cuba policy of the Washington government, and the Armenian-American effort to have the genocide recognised. However, when such influence goes over the line and begins to politicise internal affairs of sovereign states, especially where there is aid conditionality, then it brings up uneasy answers as to where diplomacy ends.

A recent example brings this concern to the fore. US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has reportedly urged a conditional review of military assistance to Pakistan, linked not to institutional reform or policy outcomes, but to the continued tenure of the country's military leadership. However noble these positions may seem, they raise the very candid question: should personalities be used to trade foreign aid against........

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