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Another blow was dealt to those seeking a friendly, long-lasting relationship between Pakistan and the United States, with news that the US government had suspended $800 million in security aid to Pakistan on Monday. The news is only another crack however, within the foundations of a US-Pak alliance post-9/11 that is filled with cracks on all sides. Unfortunately, until the relationship between the two countries is presented earnestly to the public in both countries, the foundations will continue to be eroded away by each new misunderstanding and propped up only by a combination of carrots – aid – and sticks – suspending aid.
In the short-term, relations are stuck in a basic ground reality, one rarely admitted by policymakers on either side of the Atlantic and never articulated to the public’s on both sides. Whether they like each other or not, both countries are ‘stuck’ and cannot pursue their own interests without cooperation. This may be an unpopular assertion and may trigger nationalist outbursts amongst peoples accustomed to seeing the other as playing a double game, but it cannot be avoided. For the US, peace in Afghanistan cannot come while militants are allowed sanctuary across the border as well as a place to keep and gather supporters, supplies and arms. Additionally, the vital supply-line snaking through Pakistan from the shipyards of Karachi to US outposts across the country form a crucial lifeline and one through which 60 per cent of Nato supplies travel.
For Pakistan, with an economy barely able to keep up with the growth of our population, international aid and support are unfortunately crucial to our economic well-being – whether in the form of IMF bailouts or deferred oil payments or foreign direct investment. While the US may not be writing all of these cheques, being a pariah state will ensure us almost no cheques and have untold consequences on our economy and people. Additionally, as the Swat operation as well as the carnage wrought by suicide bombings that have become all too familiar in the landscape of Pakistani cities have taught us, the violent ideology spawned by the Taliban and al Qaeda that has grown as a cancer within Pakistani society is slowly killing us. It is only by the governments on both sides admitting – and making public – these realities will the true nature of Pak-US relations and the need to strengthen them, be made clear.
While this may be the truth underpinning the relationship between the two, it is a truth rarely presented to the public, as both countries’ governments seem to prefer pandering to public opinion rather than attempting to change it. In Pakistan, perceptions of the United States – and willingly embraced by the government – center on drone strikes and the ever familiar chant of “Pakistan needs to do more” ignoring the billions of dollars of US aid that has flowed into Pakistani coffers and the close relationship between the two governments. In the US the perception of Pakistan is similarly negative, with stories of Pakistani complicity in attacks in Afghanistan and a rogue military governing an increasingly failed state. Indeed, elements in the media in both countries often inflame the situation further, as when Pakistani newspapers published the name of the alleged CIA station chief in Islamabad in May or when a major American newspaper published its own editorial last week calling for the removal of the chief of the ISI.
Unfortunately these media attacks illustrate an uncomfortable reality – in both Pakistan and the United States the other country is unpopular with the public, considered to be playing a double game and lacking trust. Polling done by the Pew Global Attitudes Project after the bin Laden raid show that "most Pakistanis view the US as an enemy" while the 2011 BBC World Service Country Rating Poll showed that 75 per cent of Americans had unfavourable views of Pakistan. Politically speaking, it is thus politically profitable for both sides to distance themselves from one another and increasingly difficult for the two governments to cozy up and cooperate with one another.
As a report by the Guardian detailed, with this in mind a deal was made between Presidents Bush and Musharraf giving the US permission to target bin Laden in Pakistan, given that the Pakistani government could claim denial and protest the attack after the fact. This is not the basis upon which a lasting relationship can be built between Pakistan and the United States. Continuing the policy of ignoring the needs that link the two sides together and focusing on attacking one another will only fray the already tenuous bonds holding the countries together – to the detriment of both. Until both governments are willing to come clean about the relationship between the United States and Pakistan and clearly explain the reasoning behind it, as compared to feigning outrage when the details come to light in the media, anti-Americanism in Pakistan and anti-Pakistani sentiments in America will only continue to grow.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
