Daily Times

The US-Pakistan bi-lateral relations are at the historic low. There is no doubt in saying that the Trump Administration has not given a single try to fix this issue both at civilian and military levels rather continued to pressurizing Pakistan at all forums. From Pakistan side, the newly elected government has shown a cold behaviour towards the US. The visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from his arrival at Airport and conclusion of the trip without any media talk was also termed highly unsuccessful for both sides. From a close partner in War-on-Terror from 2001 till 2014, the exit of United States from its commitments and long-term engagement with Pakistan has created a vacuum which Pakistan is trying to fill with new partners in the region like Chinese, Russians, and Saudis.

Pakistan offered support to the US in the War-on-Terror and paid a heavy price of 80,000 casualties of Pakistanis in terrorism, disruption in governance, attacks on military and civilians especially children as hundreds of schools were hit by the militants. The Armed forces of Pakistan, which are blamed for the double game by the Americans, sacrificed thousands of servicemen in this deal. Moreover, millions of Pakistanis lost their homes and livelihoods and became internally displaced (IDPs) in camps. The military operation in Swat valley all alone resulted in the displacement of over two million people. The economic impact of this engagement was also devastating for a country where lack of foreign investment and trade opportunities remained low. On the other hand, the US signed a nuclear deal with India, multi-billion trade treaties at a time when CPEC was not initiated. India took maximum advantage and not only multiplied their investments and economic growth but also continued to malign Pakistan at the world forums. This situation continued for years and created mistrust between both the US and Pakistan. The US-led forces spent trillions of dollars in Afghanistan but could not establish its footprints on more than 10% of Afghanistan resultantly blaming Pakistan as the reason for the US failure inside Afghanistan where thousands of Afghans have died in American airstrikes and drone attacks.

The United States is critical of CPEC and increasing China’s influence in Pakistan but it forgets that Pakistan also gave access to Americans in Balochistan and parts of the country where CPEC is currently in implementation. Pakistan allowed NATO supplies to Afghanistan very soft conditions without charging high duties. During the war on terror, the US used airbases in Balochistan and neighbouring areas of Afghanistan but despite appreciating Pakistan’s utmost support, it carried out hundreds of drone attacks on Pakistanis even in the settled areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These drone attacks multiplied militants. The civilians who lost their family members turned into terrorists and started attacking law & enforcement agencies of Pakistan.

Despite the crisis at the diplomatic levels, the United States and Pakistan have a huge volume of bi-lateral relation which cannot be overlooked. In all of the pessimism and dismal bi-lateral relations, people to people interaction between the Americans and Pakistanis continued and the US. continued to support Pakistan in the development sector. Pakistan remained one of the top countries in US foreign assistance recipient’s countries. Similarly, the United States has one of the biggest diplomatic mission in Pakistan.

The U.S claims that it provided more than PKR 6.6 Trillion in aid to Pakistan since 1947, however, the majority of this aid came to Pakistan when the US was engaged in Afghanistan in the 80s and 2001-2015.

Pakistan-Americans are considered the second fastest growing and the seventh largest group in the United States.  There are over 15,000 Pakistani doctors, or about 5% of all foreign physicians and surgeons, the third largest source of foreign-trained doctors, in practice in the United States. An estimated 15,000 Pakistani-Americans are working at Apple, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Intel, Oracle, Twitter and hundreds of other high-tech companies from small start-ups to large corporations. The American Business Council (ABC) in Pakistan established in 1984 has 65 members, including IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, and 3M – directly and indirectly employing nearly 1 million Pakistanis. In terms of remittances, the US remains among the top remitting countries.

The US claims that it provided more than PKR 6.6 Trillion in aid to Pakistan since 1947, however, the majority of this aid came to Pakistan when the US was engaged in Afghanistan in the 80s and 2001-2015. In the 1990s when the US left Afghanistan – the diplomatic front became equally cold and harsh as today.

Very few Pakistani know that in 2013 when the country was severely hit by the energy crisis. The US assisted Pakistan in the energy sector in resolving the issue. The USAID funded energy program installed automatic or smart meters on sub-stations all over the country. These smart meters helped in scheduling load shedding across the country. As a result, the National Power Control Centre (NPCC) in Islamabad became empowered to effectively manage power supply on an assigned quota of each distribution company. Earlier there was no mechanism and most electricity was provided to a private company while government companies suffered from load shedding and disruption in offices by angry mobs.

Similarly, the US supported in the construction of nearly 1000 schools since 2013 and established in an equal number of basic health units. Training of over 25,000 teachers on teaching skills helped in improvements in the education sector. Similarly, the USAID trained thousands of lady health workers and doctors in health programs.

Every year, the US government sends approximately 1000 Pakistanis on exchange programs on a broad range of topics.  These exchanges last from a couple of weeks to multiple years-long academic programs. Pakistan has the world largest US Alumni network of over 25,000 members who participated in different exchange Programmes mostly funded by the US government. The US leads in the highest number of exchange opportunities to Pakistanis – Average 1000 per year. 18,000 Pakistanis have received college scholarships in last 10 years. Pakistan receives more fully funded Fulbright Scholarships than any other country in the world.  In 2017, more than 190 Pakistani Master’s and Ph.D. students began their studies in America. Majority of Pakistan’s political elites are alumni of US exchanges.

Both US and Pakistan are willing to improve relations but unable to do so due to conditions and expectations set for each other. Pakistan expects to be treated on an equal basis and seen through the lenses the US uses for India. The US, on the other hand, wants Pakistan to do whatever Trump administration conceive in Afghanistan and keep the fire burning inside its borders by launching operations against every organization which opposes US engagement in Afghanistan and Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir. A large number of Indian-Americans working in the State Department has a strong lobbying and influence on US foreign policy towards Pakistan.

Both Pakistan and US have dependencies on each other and cannot ignore each other role in regional and international affairs. The only way forward is to increase interaction and negotiations to reduce trust deficit. The current government needs to focus on the bi-lateral transaction with the US as seriously as they do with any other regional powers. The US administration also needs to understand the internal challenges to Pakistan with a weaker economy and short sustaining foreign reserves. They need to give a good gesture by supporting Pakistan at IMF and at FATF forums. The US silence on Indian denial of talks on Kashmir and other disputes needs to end. If the US would want Pakistan support, it will have to pressurize India for talks with Pakistan. People to People exchanges and interactions will help in resolving such a crisis and getting back to the normal business.

The writer is a public policy commentator and communications professional. He can be contacted at Twitter: zia051 or zia051@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, October 7^th 2018.