US-Pakistan Relation: A Troubled Geostrategic Marriage

US-Pakistan relations date back to the establishment of Pakistan and have gone through ups and downs. The first significant bond between the two was in the context of the 1955 Baghdad Pact, which allied the Muslim nations bordering the USSR and was supposed to serve as a buffer against Soviet expansion into Asia. During the India-Pakistan War of 1965, America’s refusal to send weapons to Pakistan led to a sense of betrayal and distrust on the part of many Pakistanis towards the US. This sentiment grew stronger when the US cut military aid in 1979 after the Pakistani nuclear program came to light. We also see US Embassy in Islamabad Burnt to Ashes that year by Pakistani’s.
Relations improved later that year when the USSR invaded Afghanistan and the US Congress authorized the resumption of security assistance, despite Pakistan’s nuclear program. The nuclear test Pakistan conducted in 1998, in response to a nuclear test by India, again derailed relations with Washington. The 9/11 attacks against the US in 2001 served as a catalyst for a renewed closeness of relations, largely due to the understanding by General Musharraf, who headed Pakistan at the time, that Pakistan had better join the angry United States after the attacks rather than be identified as an opponent and risk a direct confrontation, as was the case with Iraq and Afghanistan. For the US, helping Pakistan becomes a more stable and democratic nation fighting radical Islamic terror elements became a central goal in the post-9/11 era.

The targeted killing of Osama Bin Laden by the United States in early May 2011 and the complex sequence of related events, including the terrorist attack by the Pakistan-based Haqqani network on the American Embassy in Kabul in early September, have thrown the complicated relationship between the US and Pakistan into the spotlight. The two nations are deeply divided with regard to the war on terrorism, reflected in recent months by increasingly loud calls by members of Congress to end military and economic aid to Pakistan in light of suspicions and accusations by senior US Army officers.
Hostile Pakistani public opinion and concerns about Pakistan playing both sides have damaged the willingness of several US lawmakers to continue to budget either civilian or military aid to Pakistan. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) conveyed this sentiment when he remarked, “We spent all this money and they still hate us.”
In addition, Pakistan has time and again failed to maintain its military achievements in the war on terrorism or translate them into successes in the civilian realm; areas that were cleared of terrorists are reclaimed by terrorists in the absence of a stable local government (in some areas, the military has engaged in a third round of cleansing in the last two years). Therefore, it is not inconceivable that the next stage in the war on terrorism in Pakistan may go beyond the FATA borders and entail expanding American drone attacks into the Balochistan region.
Some of the current tensions between the US and Pakistan may be attributed to the sudden death of America’s special envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke, who enjoyed a special status there, was an expert in all regional matters, and was a proponent of a policy that placed greater emphasis on the civilian aspect than on the military
Still, despite the angry reverberations from declarations by senior American government and military personnel, a closer examination of Pakistan’s war on terrorism demonstrates that America’s copious criticism is both overstated and imprecise in several ways. First, of all the nations’ fighting terrorism, including the United States, Pakistani security forces have suffered the highest number of casualties, with close to 4,000 dead. Second, Pakistani security forces have succeeded in catching senior Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, such as Khaled Sheikh Muhammad, the brain behind 9/11. Third, the Pakistani army and border patrol have long been fighting the terrorist organizations in FATA, and have paid for this with serious retaliations on the internal arena following the establishment of the Pakistani Taliban, which carries out many attacks targeting both urban centers and the security services.
Because of reading all that if you are thinking China as an Alternative to the US, then no you are WRONG my friends.
An examination of past confrontations between Pakistan and India (1947, 1965, 1971, and 1999) shows that China did not help Pakistan in any significant way in any of them, and even sided openly with India in 1999 in the Kargil conflict.
Moreover, as a member of the UN Security Council, China has voted for defining the Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a terrorist organization, in clear contrast to the Pakistani position. An examination of Chinese aid to Pakistan shows that the major portion is military, with only a small allotment to civilian needs. For example, after the destructive floods in 2010, China offered Pakistan the relatively modest sum of only $100 million, as opposed to the $500 million given by the US. China’s clear interest lies in maintaining the tension between India and Pakistan in order to impede India’s growth and keep it from vying with China for regional hegemony.
Therefore China might be expected to continue providing Pakistan with military aid, thereby preventing a disruption of the balance of power favoring India and an armed conflict between India and Pakistan. By contrast, leaders of the Pakistani regime are using the strategic alliance with China as a tool in negotiations with the US. About a week after the successful attack on Bin Laden, Prime Minister Gillani left for a visit to China and even declared in Pakistan’s parliament that China is “an all-weather partner” – a dig clearly directly at Washington.
US is the largest donor to Pakistan in terms of Civil and Military Aid ,The Full-bright Scholarship Program and the assistance provided by US Govt. in the Flood are just to name few efforts by the US Govt. for the people of Pakistan.
It’s time for all to understand that now we are with US in this war against extremism, we should fight and stand together by US until this over.
Friends have some good and bad moments, and right now we are just having some bad moments with our friend.
The Best Solution in the time is that drone control should hand over to Pakistan so any drone attack in Pakistan should be carry under Pakistani supervision and permission. The Supply Route to NATO forces should be opened against that agreement.
Pirzada Hasaan Hashmi
Writer is a Blogger ,Inter-faith Expert & Works as Spokesperson for IHRP (www.ihrp.net)