The PCNS draft links Pakistan’s access to civil nuclear technology with its availability to India. We must understand that our energy independence is not contingent upon relations between other nations. As a sovereign state, Pakistan should have access to all civilian technologies and should not accept any conditionality on that. Ensuring access to affordable energy is a national security issue and cannot be left to consent from other nations. The draft recommendation promotes an “Afghan-led” and “Afghan-owned” resolution of the conflict. This raises many questions. First, which Afghans are we talking about — the ones sitting in Kabul and represented by President Karzai or the ones who control a vast geographic area represented by the Afghan Taliban, engaged in negotiations with the US. Technically, it should be Kabul, and that means that we have given control of our foreign policy position into the hands of Afghanistan. If the Afghan government blames Pakistan as the source of its internal conflict, as they have done on numerous occasions in the past, then we have to accept it. The US forces protect the Afghan government, which means that they have influence on the approach adopted by Kabul, including providing legitimacy to the Indian role in Afghanistan. The correct approach would have been that Pakistan desires peace and stability in the region. As a country with a long border and historic ties with the Afghan people, it is important that a regional framework is developed in which Pakistan plays its justified role as a country most affected by the continuation of conflict. Any platform that leaves out Pakistan should not be acceptable in the interests of regional stability. The PCNS was mandated to perform a strategic review of bilateral relations with the US. But the draft goes beyond this mandate, including the relationship with other important countries like China, Russia and Iran. Each bilateral relationship has to be developed based on unique cultural, economic, social and security conditions prevailing between the countries. Subjecting these relations to the terms of engagement with the US is subjugating them to the US’s indirect influence. The articles of PCNS’s recommendations pertaining to other countries should be taken out. Many analysts in Pakistan are predicting that US influence is waning in the world, which may be true but not evident for the next two decades. The US does feel pressure from a bad economy, high budget deficit, reduction in defence budget and declining morale of its armed forces resulting from long exposure to war. The US policy makers realise the extent of these pressures and are actively seeking remedies. There is a united front between the Republican and Democratic Parties that the budget deficit has to be reduced; their only difference is in the approach. It is only a matter of time before they find a common ground, which will be sooner than later as many expect. The economic crisis in Europe has been a blessing for the dollar as more money is poured into the US economy, helping it recover from a recession and reducing unemployment. The US pullout from Iraq and drawdown from Afghanistan will reduce pressure on its armed forces as well as curtail the war expense. The US is pressuring NATO countries — UK, France and Germany — to assume security responsibilities in Europe. This will enable her to redeploy some of these forces in the Pacific, Middle East and South Asia without creating additional strain on its military strength. The US-Pakistan relationship is an important one but it is stuck at a transactional level because of the shortsightedness of our planners. We have to develop multifaceted and wide-ranging relations with the US that not only include security considerations but cultural and social interaction between the people. Unless we work towards it, we will have accelerated the widening of the gap between these old time friends. (Concluded) The writer is the former President of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce-USA and member of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf. He can be reached at abdul.kundi@gmail.com Note: The views expressed are personal and not the official party position