Relationship between Pakistan and United states has been both cooperative and conflictive, in their brief checkered history, but as U.S President- elect Joe Biden is set to occupy White House in Washington as the 46th president of the United States for the next four years, what’s in it for Pakistan?
Following a grand slam home run for Joe Biden in 2020 US presidential election, Islamabad has already geared up to engage with the new U.S president, that was reflected by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran khan’s immediate tweet to felicitate him right after Biden declared his victory in his ‘We must restore the soul of America’ speech. PM Khan congratulated Joe Biden on his victory and said his government will continue to work with the US for peace in Afghanistan and in the region.
But, what really does Biden presidency has for Pakistan? The 78 year old Biden has historically considered Pakistan as a strategic ally, unlike Donald Trump who downplayed Islamabad’s role right after the presidency, and later blaming the country for ‘lies and deception’ and providing safe havens to the terrorists’ organizations. Biden on the contrary, during his tenure as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), along with Senator Richard Lugar, promulgated the Enhanced Partnership Act with Pakistan 2008. Later, their efforts to strengthen the US-Pakistan relationship later culminated in the famous Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act 2009, after Senator Kerry became the Chairman of SFRC. The main aim of Biden’s effort was to improve the political and economic situation in Pakistan for regional stability.
What’s more to the Biden script, is that in 2008-shortly after Barack Obama was elected president in, Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden traveled to Kabul to meet with Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president. As recounted in “Directorate S,” a book on the Afghan war by the journalist Steve Coll, Afghan president Hamid Karzai asked for help from the new administration in getting the Pakistani government to clear out Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan. But Coll recounts, that responding to Karzai, Biden said, “Mr. President, Pakistan is 50 times more important than Afghanistan for the United States.”
Biden’s position on Pakistan not only makes Islamabad’s case easier, but since Islamabad played a key role in brokering the landmark US-Taliban peace deal in February 29th earlier this year, setting in motion a “conditions-based” withdrawal of all U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan by May 2021, dealing with Biden on the future course of Afghanistan issue, will be a lot more viable in contrast to recalcitrant and belligerent Trump.
Pakistan also stands to gain from Biden’s conventional style of governance, since Islamabad has had reservations with Trump’s unpredictable and rational approach to the issues. Ever since the Peace deal, U.S. military has cut the size of its troop presence to 4,500 soldiers, from around 13,000 at the time of the signing of the deal and vacated several Afghan bases. Pakistan has had serious concerns over hasty withdrawal of U.S troops under Trump administration, as Prime Minister Imran Khan has already warned against the hasty withdrawal of foreign troops from war-torn Afghanistan, terming it “unwise”. Pakistan fears any hasty pull out from the war torn country will only compound the problems and potentially throw Afghanistan into another cycle of civil war, which be inimical for Pakistan . However, seemingly rational and traditional in his style, Biden may not hasten the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, since he would rather engage vis a vis State Department and Pentagon to take informed decisions on the ground.
Moreover, historically, U.S has always viewed Pakistan as an ally against War on terror in Afghanistan, but the relationship has been paradoxical, since New Delhi nestles much more closely with Washington, as their alliance is used as a crucial leverage to contain the expansive China in the new world Order. During Trump administration, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi forged a close bond with Trump, which was displayed during “Howdy Modi” event which was billed as one of the largest ever receptions of a foreign leader in the US. Moreover, Trump’s callous silence on human rights also pushed India to exercise its hostile move and stripped Kashmiris of the special autonomy they have had for seven decades, triggering violence and state sponsored atrocities.
Biden’s entry into the White house will be hailed as shift in goal posts may, as it may alter U.S position on Kashmir, since in his Agenda for Muslim-American Communities, Biden condemned the Modi government’s new citizenship act and a separate attempt to build a population register that could provide future justification to expel or intern foreigners, calling the projects “inconsistent with the country’s long tradition of secularism and with sustaining a multi-ethnic and multi-religious democracy.”
Adding her voice on the issue, vice president-elect Kamala Harris has also made strong statements against India’s human rights violation. In October 2019, Harris said “We have to remind Kashmiris that they are not alone in the world,” and “There is a need to intervene if the situation demands.” The change of Command in the Washington is expected to cement Pakistan’s call against Indian repression in Kashmir, as Biden-Harris pair will ensure human rights issues are heard in the Oval Office.
Policy quarters in Islamabad may expect a change of course in U.S-Pakistan relation in the aftermath of U.S. presidential election, however since the inception of their diplomatic ties, the two sides have been wrangling over mistrust, backstabbing and lack of certainty in the relationship equation. The toxic relationship between a super power and a strategically located south Asian state has been aptly described by an American scholar on South Asia Daniel S. Markey, as a “tortured relationship”, amid lack of durability and credibility in the Islamabad-Washington connection.
In the past, Pakistan’s governments may have tried to woo the American leaders, in particular the award of highest civilian award in 2008 by President Asif Ali Zardari, to the then U.S. Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden and Republican Senator, Richard Lugar. But, since the element of certainty and stability lacks in the U.S- Pak relationship, predictions are seldom translated into reality.