The latest blow to deteriorating Pak-US relations came in form of the United States Department of Defence announcing a withdrawal of aid worth$300m under the Coalition Support Fund. Since Donald Trump’s resolve of “no more” aid to Pakistan in January 2018,the total aid suspended under various projects now amounts to $800m.
Time and again, the US has criticised Pakistan of providing safe havens to terrorist outfits, which the US claims is the sole reason for instability in Afghanistan. Wit regard to the recent aid cuts, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White Press Secretary stated, “our goal is that we know that they can do more to stop terrorism, and we want them to do that”.
However this statement and the ones directed at Pakistan for the past many months fail to take two imperative facts into perspective. Firstly, that the Afghan militancy problem today is a consequence of the US radicalizing Afghan and Pakistani Mujhadeen groups to fight the Soviets during the Cold War. Perhaps in the blame game of who funds terrorists, a journey down memory lane, will remind the world of who armed and funded the Taliban in the first place. Secondly, a report titled Body Count: Casualty Figures after 10 Years of the ‘War on Terror’ concluded that over 80,000 Pakistanis have lost their lives for the American war since 2001. Surprisingly, this figure and the fact that Pakistan opened its borders to Afghan refugees fleeing the US invasionare rarely mentioned during the “do more” mantra.
The US seems to be solely blaming Pakistan for the constant presence of the Taliban, despite being unable to eradicate the Taliban themselves after seventeen years of war.
As the US has started to reduce aid, trainings for Pakistan its relations with India have improved. While that serves the US security interests in Asia, Pakistan is concerned. Given the recent trajectory of events, many analysts have pointed out towards the enforcement of negative sanctions. These could range from targeted restrictions in the international community, loan blockades and more. This however might not inspire Pakistan towards “good behavior” as the US assumes – instead will just push them towards Russia, China and Iran.
With all that has been said and done, Pakistan needs to react to this latest development with caution. Pakistan should not change its stance on exploring mutually beneficial avenues for Pak-US bilateral ties. While the US states that it is willing to renegotiate once Pakistan fulfills its promised obligations -it needs to realise that its current strategy is not likely to work. Pakistan is a sovereign, nuclear-armed state and cannot be treated like a ‘misbehaving’ child who can be punished and rewarded at will.
It is time that both sides take stock of things and during the upcoming visit of US Secretary of the State, avenues for constructive engagement be opened up. It is in the US interest to work with Pakistan and vice versa. Hardline populism in Pakistan will not work either for it is too important a relationship to be forsaken. *
Published in Daily Times, September 3rd 2018.