Convergence and Divergence in Pak-US Relations

However, this relationship is mutually valuable for both the countries and mostly dependent on the meeting-points with reference to the main issues. Yet the sole superpower status of the US and the significant position of Pakistan, as a political and strategic hub of South Asia, raise sudden and strong outbursts in this relation.

This article aims at underscoring the matters of understanding and the issues of miscellaneous opinion and policies between Pakistan and the US over the distinctive national and international contexts that directly link the two parties’ interests and spell out causes of survival of interaction between them during crucial times of ‘pull-and-push’.

Starting with the story of relations by the post-9/11 era, we can make a list of converging and diverging interests in this complicated two-pronged affair. After September 9/11, Pakistan engaged with the US in its war on terror taking a U-turn on its Afghan policy. This engagement was a coordinated move towards a union and uniformity regardless of this question that who was a decision-maker on Pakistan’s side and what could be the far-reaching upshot of that decision.
For the State Department, it was imperative to involve Pakistan in this game because of its geostrategic and diplomatic relationships with Afghanistan. For Pakistan, in the words of then Chief Executive of Pakistan Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf, it was essential to support the US to survive its territorial integrity as being an economically weak country — Pakistan — could not bear any assault or economic sanctions. Besides it was a time for Pakistan to flop all the Indian propagandas against Pakistan’s Kashmir agenda, the nukes and the attempts to tarnish Pakistan’s image in the international community as a terrorist country.

This post-9/11 Pak-US ‘marriage of convenience’ started with the mutual promises and pledges, but shortly after that both the parties found each other standing at different platforms. The trust-deficit phase started on both ends over various issues with the result that the war on terror did not end in a year. As expected and estimated by Pakistan, the US alleged that the Pakistan administration and intelligence agencies were involved in the dual policymaking efforts to satisfy both the parties (the US and the Taliban). The US became suspicious about the officially-authorised use of the invested amount in Pakistan for this war, whereas the Pakistani administration expressed its dissatisfaction over the economic support from the US, and ultimately the fact that Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by the US forces was a strong point to underpin the US suspicions about the sympathisers of al-Qaeda among the people of Pakistan, the intelligence agencies and even at the government level.

However, the secret deal between Pakistan and the US regarding the drone attacks was reported by a US paper, The Washington Post, on 4 October 2008. The Washington Post reported that there was a secret deal between US and Pakistan for allowing these drone attacks. This statement was discarded by the then foreign minister of Pakistan. In response to such statements, Pakistan requested the US to give them control over drones and provide them required technical training and assistance. But the US rejected this request for fear of leakage of information about the militant targets. Conceivably, the US does not want to multiply its troubles as it is already concerned about the previous issue concerning Pakistan’s reliability of the nuclear command and control system. It fears the extremist groups’ control over nukes in case of any radical takeover. This fear spilled over with the revelation of the ‘AQ Khan network’ with ‘proof’ of the nuclear proliferation activities. Rejecting all the US concerns, as to its nuclear assets that they may fall in the hands of the extremists, Pakistan claims a robust command and control system. Despite the fact that Pakistan has prompted its effort to thwart the nuclear proliferation, the States Department still remains suspicious about the success of Pakistan’s effort in this connection.