Daily Times

US-Pakistan relations have been strained for quite some time. The recent visit of Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, was an attempt to restore bilateral confidence and revive cooperation in the context of the US led War on Terror (WoT) in and around Afghanistan. Why do the US and Pakistan mistrust each other? What explains the contours of this bilateral relationship during and after the Cold War? Why is Pakistan so concerned about its sovereignty with reference to, for example, drone attacks on its territory? What is state fragility, if not failure, and how is it related to political sovereignty? And, how does China factor into US-Pakistan relations? These questions are crucial to understand and address issues and irritants in contemporary US-Pakistan foreign policy, which is being moulded by the changing geopolitical environment regionally and globally.

Ahmed Waheed takes on this puzzle in his recently released book, The Wrong Ally, which constitutes eight chapters including introduction and a conclusion. The initial chapters set the thematic tone of the study in terms of formulation of research questions, proposition of aims and objectives and limitation of scope. The book, an outcome of his doctoral research carried out at Queen Mary College, University of London, essentially is an effort to problematise and contextualise the very notion of sovereignty within the historical, strategic, political and academic dynamics of the postcolonial state of Pakistan. The latter, after gaining independence from the British, nourished and perpetuated insecurity vis-à-vis India during the Cold War where the US allied Pakistan for strategic purposes. The latter, posit the middle chapters, accrued military and economic aid with not too many conditions. However, whenever Washington’s interest waned in the South Asian region, as it did during the 1970s, not only did the foreign aid reduce in volume but Pakistan was also pressured to improve the state of human rights, the degree of democracy and, importantly, halt its nuclear program. Overall however, Pakistan was perceived by the US, as part of the solution to contain Soviet communism in the region and, by default, Pakistan’s state sovereignty was not violated. Nor was the latter dubbed a failed state, as mostly was the case in the Third World context. Pakistan survived sovereignty violations — and, to a great extent, countered India strategically –owing to the US’s focus on the stronger, and not weaker, states conceived as strategic threats during the Cold War period.

However, from the 1990s onwards, the US viewed weaker states as a potential threat. 9/11 added conviction to the prevailing security-centric view. Thus, the WoT reflected change in strategy and tactics. To fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, American policy-makers invoked the principle of humanitarian intervention, grounded in the contested conception of state failure, to prevent terrorism locally and (extra) regionally. The operationalisation of humanitarian intervention, consequently, impacted on state sovereignty in negative terms. Pakistan was no exception. However, it allied with the US in the immediate wake of the 9/11 attacks, yet its sovereignty was offended with drone attacks, argues Ahmed in Chapter-5 and 6. However, the study noticed no significant shift in the strategic thinking and behaviour of the Pakistani state elite with respect to the politics and practice of state failure and territorial sovereignty for the Pakistani state elite believed in, since state inception in 1947, and passed on, socially and academically, the security centricity of the subject. This though, conflicted with the American view on the matter.

Pakistan survived sovereignty violations — and, to a great extent, countered India strategically — owing to the US’s focus on the stronger, and not weaker, states conceived as strategic threats during the Cold War period

With respect to the latest phase of US-Pakistan relations, the study updates us both conceptually and empirically. The Trump administration, being no exception, has taken a realist view of US policies and their position in South Asia where WoT in and around Afghanistan has been a key policy concern. The previous and present Administration have invoked state failure as well as foreign aid to pressure Pakistan into aligning itself with the American understating of South Asian geopolitics. Since Pakistan’ fundamental obsession has been India, the former, during 2001-8, allied with the US, though it partly offended its sovereignty, to balance out India in the region. The American military and economic aid has been a rational choice for the Pakistani military that has dominated policy discourse in the country, despite the harsh conditions that came with it.

Book name: The Wrong Ally
Price: $53.62
294 pages
Publisher: Peter Lang Ltd

However, owing to the changing geostrategic regional environment, with China being further engaged with Pakistan under the terms of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), it is likely that this time around the US may not succeed in getting what it wants from the Pakistani state elite, since the latter now has China as an option to replace American patronage. Will China provides itself as a permanent patron to Pakistan or whether the latter really is looking for a new patron is to be seen, concludes the last chapter.

Last but not the least, the book is rich in primary sources and provides a detailed discussion on the skewed role the Pakistani academia, in complicity with the state elite, has played in perpetuating a security centric interpretation of state sovereignty despite the fact, theoretically if not practically, alternate perspectives on the subject are available. I would mark the preceding as the major contribution of the study to the literature. Moreover, exploration and establishment of structural linkages between state fragility and state sovereignty and the policy adopted is another contribution of the study. However, further studies ought to be conducted to test its empirical assertions in other similar cases. Finally, the book is well organised, though an overall bibliography would have added to convenience. In nutshell, it is a wonderful read and is highly recommended.

The writer is a political scientist by training and professor by profession. He is a DAAD, FDDI and Fulbright Fellow. He tweets @ejazbhatty

Published in Daily Times, September 8^th 2018.