Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi recently stated that US-Pakistan relations are taking a new turn despite a sceptic approach adopted by US officials. He was speaking in context of Islamabad’s regional foreign policy initiatives in light of Indo-Pak tensions and its role in bringing Washington and the Taliban to table talk.
The two countries’ relationship was largely based on mutually converging goals, who would part ways once their objectives were achieved. This had been the case during the Cold War when Pakistan aligned itself with the US to fight communism. When the Soviet Union’s sun was setting, the two countries distanced themselves for a prolonged period. Of course, the situation in Kabul required Islamabad to jump in which later turned out to be a costly measure when the 9/11 Attacks occurred.
Since then, the two powers fought the War on Terror together for strategic reasons, but mistrust gradually increased over the years owing to Islamabad’s alleged support to certain groups of the Afghan Taliban.
The complexities cannot be reviewed from specific angles since there were other factors in place which influenced US-Pakistan ties. New Delhi’s increasing sphere of influence in the region and the world at-large made it a strategic ally for Washington. This made Islamabad quite wary for an extended amount of time.
Long story short, complexity of US and Pakistan ties perfectly make them frenemies. No matter what the two sides state regarding their relations, it would always be considered a love-hate relationship.
The Taliban may be ready for talks and perhaps, peace could be achieved in Kabul sans any major hindrance. Nevertheless, Washington’s strategy for South Asia would be tied to security and economic factors. Its containment of China policy is already in jeopardy while India is still reeling from a major diplomatic setback received at the hands of Islamabad.
This makes Pakistan an indispensable ‘ally’-albeit on reluctant grounds. The Trump administration knows that disposing off Islamabad would be a lethal mistake in the context of the Afghan peace process. History is cruel but learning from it teaches not to repeat the mistakes of the past. This is the key reason for US-Pakistan relations to sustain over the decades even if they were bumpy on certain points. To renew the ties to an acceptable level, mutual trust should be sustained, and focus should shift from security to economic angle. This is the only way to build a lasting relationship based on realpolitik. *
Published in Daily Times, March 12th 2019.
Source: https://dailytimes.com.pk/364139/us-pakistan-relations-2/
