Pakistan USA Relations

1. Pakistan relations with
USA
Course Title: Foreign Policy of
Pakistan

2. Group 2
• Presented to:
Sir Anwar Farooq
• Presented by:
Zain Ullah

4. Contents
1. Beginning of Pak-US relations: 1947-1952
2. The Cold War Alliance I: 1953-1962
3. Transition: 1962-1971
4. Policy of Bilateralism & Non-Alignment: 1972-1979
5. The Cold War Alliance II: 1980-1989
6. The phase of Oscillating Relationship: 1990-2001
7. The Post-Cold War Alliance against Terrorism: 2001-2007
8. US officials’ growing scepticism about Pakistan’ role in WOT: 2008-2016
9. The Relations under Presidency of Donald Trump: 2016-2020
10. Pak-US relations under Joe Biden’s Administration
11. Future Prognosis

5. 1. Beginning of Pak-US relations: 1947-1952
• USA one of the first countries to have established diplomatic relations with Pakistan October 20,1947.
• Pakistan’s strategic geographic position made it a valuable partner in Western alliance systems to contain the spread of
communism. Pakistan has strategic importance with respect to South Asia & its proximity with Middle eastern countries
enriched with oil reserves. Pakistan contented that the Soviet Union wanted to get access to the Arabian Sea & to
increased its influence in the Middle East.
• In Foreign Policy, Liaquat Ali Khan established friendly relations with the United States when he visited President Harry
S. Trumen in 1950.
• It is alleged that during PM Khan’s first visit to US, president Truman requested Pakistan’s premier to let the CIA
formulate a base in Pakistan, strictly to keep an eye on the activities of Soviet Union, a request which was not granted by
Khan.
• The Pakistanis wanted to strengthen their relations with the US so as to get an advantage in their confrontation with
India over Kashmir.

6. 2. The Cold War Alliance I: 1953-1962
• Prospects for Pakistan’s relations with US improved after Republican Eisenhower came to power in 1952 in the White
House. Pakistan was faced with serious shortage of wheat in 1952-53 due to economic crises by falling the prices of jute
& cotton in International Market, which adversely affected Pakistan’s foreign trade. The US came for Pakistan's rescue
by offering a gift of wheat in 1953 which helped to overcome food shortages and built a lot of goodwill in Pakistan for
the donor.
• In 1953, Pakistan aligned itself with the US & accepted military & economic assistance. In 1954, Pakistan signed a
Mutual Defense Agreement with the US & subsequently became a member of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
(SEATO) and Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) in 1955. These agreements placed Pakistan in the US sphere of
influence.
• In 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower requested prime minister Suhrawardy to lease Peshawar Air Station to the
American Army for keeping an eye on soviet Union and its ballistic missile programme. The request was granted by the
prime minister.

7. Conti…
• A key development from Pakistan’s perspective was the amount of development & military aid that started in 1954 &
increased to $500 million by 1957 as a result of Pakistan’s joining the regional defense organizations & allying with the
USA.
• Pakistan’s Army Chief staged a military coup in 1958 & later became the President of Pakistan. Field Marshal Ayub
Khan had developed strong relations with the Americans.
• US extended over $900 million worth of military equipment under the mutual defense assistance agreement. The
Pakistan air force received six squadrons of modern jet aircraft including F-104, B-57, F-86 and c-130; the navy also
received twelve ships.
• In 1959, Ayub’s Government allowed the US to operate U2 surveillance flights over the Soviet Union from Peshawar
airport.
• This further strengthened the relations between US-Pak. As Pakistan’s president Ayub Khan put it in his biography,
“Friends not Masters”, Pakistan had become America’s “most allied ally in Asia”.

8. 3. Transition: 1962-1971
• The Indians and Chinese had fought a war in 1962 in which China had given India a bloody nose. US gave aid to India
without consulting Pakistan. As a result Pakistan moved to improve and strengthen its relations with China in order to
position itself as a stronger foe for India.
• The issue troubling the US was Pakistan’s closer relations with China. Pakistan's growing friendship with communist
China irked the US who was facing a proxy war against the communists in Vietnam
• When Khrushchev took the charge of the government, he showed his inclination towards Pakistan that he wanted good
relations with Pakistan. Soviet ambassador in Islamabad conveyed the invitation of Khrushchev to president Ayub and
was promptly accepted by the president. Eventually Ayub’s visit to Moscow took place in April 1965.
• During Ayub era, Pakistan had adopted the policy of bilateralism which was mainly based on relations with USA, USSR
and china at the same time. Kremlin leaders demanded that Pakistan should prohibit foreign military bases on its
territory, prohibit foreign nuclear weapons on its territory and limitation of military cooperation with military blocs.
From this Visit, At least Pakistan gave the message that she was not allied only with the western countries but she also
wanted cordial relation with soviets as well.

9. Conti…
• Pakistan & India fought a war in September, 1965 that was an
ill fated affair started by limited guerilla war in Kashmir that
Ayub started in order to pressurize India to come to the
negotiating table over Kashmir. However, as the war spread,
Pakistan could not sustain a long term conflict & asked for a
truce & both forces moved back to their previous borders.
• Further dissentions grew when US aid to Pakistan diminished
and it was altogether stopped during 1965 war. During the
1965 war, United States put an embargo on supply of aid to
both Pakistan and India and adopted a neutral stance. Pakistan
was badly hurt by this decision as India was receiving
military aid from Soviet Union as usual while Pakistan’s ally
United States stopped its aid.

10. Conti…
• American military aide was concentrated in West Pakistan, with economic benefits were controlled by and almost
exclusively used by West Pakistan. East Pakistani anger towards an absence of economic development was directed
towards the United States, as well as West Pakistan. The East-Pakistan parliament passed a resolution denouncing the
1954 military pact with the United States.
• West Pakistan's high rate of economic growth during this time period brought wide regard to Pakistan as a model of
successful implementation of capitalism in a developing country; in 1964, GDP growth was 9.38%. Economic growth in
1965 was a mere 0.88%. The economy rapidly rebounded with a GDP growth of 2.32% in 1966, and 9.79% in 1969.
However, given the huge economic cost of the war without any clear victory (or loss), Khan surrendered his presidential
powers to Army Commander General Yahya Khan in 1969.
• Army Chief General Yahya took over power from President Ayub Khan in March 1969. Political representation had been
insufficient and regional succession movements were strengthening in the country especially in the eastern Pakistan
province of Bengal. Elections were held in the country in 1970 with the East Pakistani party Awami League taking a
majority in the elections.

11. Conti…
• The military government did not hand over power to the winning party and in a political deadlock, unleashed a
crackdown against the East Pakistan population. This led to a limited civil war in 1971 and India siding with the
dissidents launched a war in December 1971.
• After a fortnight of fighting the Pakistani forces in East Pakistan accepted default and the state of Bangladesh was
established. The US Policy in this debacle was aligned with the military establishment of Pakistan due to its earlier links
and defense relationships.
• During 1971’s war, US is speculated to have provided Pakistan with arms and military aid, in order to discourage India
from penetrating further into the cities of Pakistan because losing Pakistan meant losing an important ally in the soviet
war.
• President Richard Nixon used Pakistan's relationship with China to start secret contacts with China which resulted with
Henry Kissinger's secret visit to China in July 1971 while visiting Pakistan. "The opening to China was an essential
element in Nixon's strategy of creating a new global balance of power. His aim was to bring China into the family of
nations, reversing two decades of US efforts to isolate Beijing and to use an improved US-Chinese relationship as a lever
with Moscow to press for US-Soviet Union.

12. 4. Policy of Bilateralism & Non-Alignment:
1972-1979
• As per the elections result, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was elected as the president of Pakistan and later on became the prime
minister in 1974. Although Bhutto was considered a socialist, he was a close and respected friend of president Nixon,
which went in Pakistan’s favor.
• Prime Minister Bhutto initially focused his attention with normalizing the domestic situation in the country. The
Government of Pakistan signed a truce with India, recognized the government of Bangladesh and eventually the 90.000
prisoners were returned by India.
• The major challenge for the new government came in May, 1974 when India executed an underground nuclear test. This
forced the Pakistanis to also seek a nuclear weapons program to match India's capabilities. Pakistan started efforts to
acquire a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant from France and a heavy water facility from West Germany.
• During Bhutto's government Pakistan's foreign policy was aligned to seek a balance between its relations with China.
Russia and the USA, Pakistan placed a special emphasis on its relations with the Arab countries in the Middle East.

13. Conti…
• President Jimmy Carter, an anti-socialist, won the presidential election of US in 1977 and announced to seek a ban on
nuclear weapons. Bhutto lost the favor, he enjoyed whilst Nixon was US president as Carter did not appreciate his
policies and tightened already placed embargoes on Pakistan.
• However, Bhutto managed to procure items to enhance his atomic bomb project. President Carter and his administration
allegedly threatened Bhutto to disrupt the process of atomic proliferation and research to which the latter did not agree,
leading to his differences with the Americans. During Jimmy Carter's administration, sanctions were placed on Pakistan
related to export control and restriction of aid Grants.
• Prime Minister Bhutto called elections in March 1977 from which he gained a landslide victory. However, the
opposition blamed it on massive rigging and started a public campaign to oust Bhutto. Prime Minister Bhutto claimed in
public rhetoric that the American were behind the opposition movement and wanted to punish his government for its
nuclear weapons program & alignment with the Arabs.
• In July 1977, the Army seized the power in a coup for the third time in the Country.

14. 5. The Cold War Alliance II: 1980-1989
• After hanging the former Prime Minister, Zia strengthened his hold on the government and used a cover of Islamic
reforms to give credibility to his government. On the nuclear front, General Zia continued the previous policy of Bhutto
in acquiring and developing capabilities for nuclear weapons.
• The chilling relations between the US & Pakistan took another a U-turn when the Soviet Army entered neighboring
Afghanistan in December 1979 to support the local communist government.
• Just four days after the Soviet invasion. On December 29, 1979, Jimmy Carter approved a broader covert action program
that instructed the CIA to provide military weapons and ammunition for the Afghan anticommunist fighters, who soon
became widely known as ‘mujahideen’. At Pakistan's insistence, the CIA funneled all aid through the Pakistani
intelligence service ISI, which in turn handed over supplies to Afghans.
• With the Reagan Administration in the White House, the support for the covert war in Afghanistan increased along with
the value of the Pakistani cooperation. Pakistan was rewarded with a $3.2 billion aid package for the next six years. As
the Afghan war progressed more than three million refugees entered Pakistan.

15. Conti…
• During this period, Pakistan was considered a valuable ally and the US ignored the increasing developments on the
nuclear front as well as the human rights abuses by the Zia regime.
• Fed up with the costs of the war and covert operations by the mujahideen, supported by the CIA and the Pakistani ISI, by
1988, the Russians had enough and were ready for a respectable evacuation from Afghanistan. The usefulness of
Pakistan for the USA with respect to Afghanistan, thus, ended when Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to a retreat in April 1988.
• General Zia died in a mysterious plane crash months later in August 1988 and political elections were held in Pakistan.
• By the end of General Zia’s regime, Congress adopted Pressler amendment. The amendment banned major military and
economical aid to Pakistan unless the state was able to justify and provide sufficient evidence that the funds are not
being used for nuclear proliferation, this is due to reason that Pakistan Strategic importance was decline.
• However it is alleged that although Pakistan disclosed that it could enrich uranium and assemble a nuclear device in
1984 and 1987 respectively, the sanctions were not imposed till 1990.

16. 6. The phase of Oscillating Relationship: 1990-
2001
• After the 1988 elections, Benazir Bhutto, the daughter of former Prime Minister Bhutto, came into power.
• Every year, the US president had to certify under the Pressler Amendment, enacted in 1984, that Pakistan did not posses a
nuclear device. After October 1, 1990, passed without certification, the $564 million economic and military aid program
approved for fiscal year 1991 was frozen.
• At this point the main occupation of the Pakistan government was to try to create a friendly mujahideen regime in
Afghanistan, continue to develop is nuclear and missile program and support the militant insurgency in Kashmir. Since
the US and Pakistani interests had diverted at this point, with the Soviets retreating from Afghanistan and the US
involved in the Middle East, the Pakistanis felt isolated by their "old friend" and "ally“.
• Domestic politics, once again, became unstable and four successive governments in Pakistan were dissolved one after
another in a matter of 11 years with the Army, as always, the main power broker among the political stalwarts. Benazir
held the Prime Minister's office twice from 1988-1990 and from 1993-1996. Her main opponent, Nawaz Sharif, held
office from 1990-1993 and 1996-1999. Gross fiscal mismanagement, political instability and US sanctions created large
fiscal deficits and the governments borrowed heavily from international lenders.

17. Conti…
• The Pakistanis contented that the Pressler Amendment was specific to Pakistan and the sanctions were unjustified.
Additional sanctions were placed after Pakistan acquired M11 missiles and delivery systems technology from China
which violated the MTCR regime.
• By 1996 Pakistan's Afghan efforts were bringing some success and the ISI backed Taliban government was established in
Afghanistan. Taliban regime based on their extreme fundamentalist views and gross violations of human rights.
• In 1998, Prime minister Nawaz Sharif conducted nuclear test in Balochistan, in retaliation to similar tests conducted by
India, which invited the wrath of Clinton’s administration on both the countries. President Clinton imposed sanctions
under Glenn amendment on India as well as Pakistan.
• The US had a new interest in Afghanistan by mid 1998 after the terrorist attacks on US Embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania which killed two hundred people and were carried on by an organization belonging to Osama Bin Ladin, a
former Saudi national living in Afghanistan.

18. Conti…
• The US administration wanted Pakistan to use its influence on the Taliban to make them handover the culprit over to the
US. However, the Taliban refused and new animosity started in the region.
• In early 1999, Pakistan had a spate of diplomatic discussion to improve their relations with India but by mid 1999, a
limited war had erupted in Kargil between the two countries which had been covertly engineered by the Pakistani Army.
As India increased pressure and an escalating war scenario emerged, the US intervened on the request of Pakistan and
the armies retreated to their pre war positions.
• The main casualty in the war turned out to the Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif who tried to oust the military
commander but a military executed a coup and the military came into power for the fourth time led by General
Musharraf. Pakistan's alliance with the US was strained due to factors such as its support for the Taliban and public
distancing of the Pakistani government from the U.S.
• General Musharraf took power at a time when the economic situation of the country was in deep trouble. The rupee was
sliding, foreign reserves had been depleted and rampant corruption had messed up the infrastructure of the country.

19. 7. The Post-Cold War Alliance against
Terrorism: 2001-2007
• From the United States perspective, Pakistan was moving closer to a "failed state" case and it's nuclear and missile
programs were a constant concern for policy makers in Washington. A failing economy could easily lead to another
coup backed by the Islamists and the country could fall in fundamentalist hands along with its arsenal of nuclear
weapons. With this scenario in view, the US administration more or less supported the Musharraf regime.
• After the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States of America, Pakistan became a key ally in the war on terror
with the United States. However, US$5 billion earmarked to train the Pakistani army in counter terrorism were instead
spent on unrelated military purposes.
• On November 6th, 2001. US President George W. Bush declared his policy: "You are either with us or against us".
President Musharraf later claimed that the U.S. had made a so-called threat to bomb Pakistan "back to the Stone Age"
after the September 11 attacks, if Pakistan refused to aid and help America with its war on terrorism.
• Pervez Musharraf acknowledges the payments in his book:
“We've captured 689 and handed over 369 to the United States. We've earned bounties
totaling millions of dollars”.

20. Conti…
• In return for their support on WOT, Pakistan had sanctions lifted and has received about $10 billion in U.S. aid since
2001, primarily military. In June 2004, President George W. Bush designated Pakistan as a major non-NATO
ally, making it eligible, among other things, to purchase advanced American military technology.
• Pakistan has lost thousands of lives since joining the U.S. war on terror in the form of both soldiers and civilians and was
going through a critical period, however many areas of Pakistan are becoming terror free. Hundreds of thousands of
refugees have been created internally in Pakistan, as they have been forced to flee their homes as a result of fighting
between Pakistani forces and the Taliban in the regions bordering Afghanistan and further in Swat.
• On 11th June, 2008, a US airstrike on the Afghan-Pakistani border killed 10 members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps.
The Pakistani military condemned the airstrike as an act of aggression, souring the relations between the two countries.
• In the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, the United States informed Pakistan that it expected full cooperation in the hunt
for the plotters of the attacks.

21. 8. US officials’ growing scepticism about
Pakistan’ role in WOT: 2008-2016
• On 14 September 2009, former President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, admitted that American foreign aid to
Pakistan had been diverted from its original purpose of fighting the Taliban to preparing for war against
neighboring India. The United States government has responded by stating that it will take these allegations seriously.
• In October 2009, the US Congress approved $7.5 billion of non-military aid to Pakistan over the next five years via
the Kerry-Lugar Bill.
• 2011 was rated by the BBC as a "disastrous year" for Pakistan-U.S. relations, primarily due to three events: the Raymond
Allen Davis incident, the death of Osama bin Laden and the Salala incident.
• In January 2011, the Raymond Allen Davis incident occurred in which Raymond Davis, an alleged private security
contractor, shot dead two Pakistani locals. The action sparked protests in Pakistan and threatened relations between the
United States and Pakistan, including aid flows.
• The CIA believes Osama Bin Laden to be hiding in Pakistan. The CIA had long suspected Osama Bin Laden of hiding in
Pakistan. India and US have also accused Pakistan of giving safe-haven to the Taliban. However, Pakistan has repeatedly
denied these accusations.

22. Conti…
• Osama bin Laden, the head of the militant group al-Qaeda, was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1
a.m. local time by a United States special forces military unit. According to Obama administration officials, US officials
did not share information about the raid with the government of Pakistan until it was over. According to the Pakistani
foreign ministry, the operation was conducted entirely by US forces. Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officials
said they were also present at what they called a joint operation; President Asif Ali Zardari flatly denied this.
• The United States and Pakistan have experienced several military confrontations on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
These skirmishes took place between American forces deployed in Afghanistan, and Pakistani troops guarding the
border. On November 26, 2011, 28 Pakistani soldiers were killed in an aerial attack on Pakistani positions near the
border. The attack further damaged US-Pakistani relations with many in Pakistan calling for a more hardline stance
against the United States.
• Since some in the U.S. government claimed that they had caught bin Laden without Pakistani help, numerous allegations
were made that the government of Pakistan had shielded bin Laden. According to the leaked files, in December 2009,
the government of Tajikistan had also told US officials that many in Pakistan were aware of bin Laden's whereabouts.

23. Conti…
• CIA chief Leon Panetta said the CIA had ruled out involving Pakistan in the operation, because it feared that "any effort
to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardize the mission. They might alert the targets. However, Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton stated that "cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound in which he
was hiding”. Obama echoed her sentiments. John O. Brennan, Obama's chief counterterrorism advisor, said that it was
inconceivable that bin Laden did not have support from within Pakistan. He further stated, "People have been referring
to this as hiding in plain sight. We are looking at how he was able to hide out there for so long.
• In 2012, Shakil Afridi, a doctor who had set up a fake vaccination campaign, in cooperation with the United States in
searching for Al Qaeda and bin Laden, was convicted of treason by Pakistan, and sentenced to 33 years in prison. The
role of Dr. Afridi was exposed by the British newspaper The Guardian in July 2011. CIA's fake vaccination campaign in
turned greatly harmed Pakistan polio vaccine drive in the tribal areas.
• Following years of poor inter-governmental relations, the two countries began to cooperate more closely, particularly
following the United States' use of drone missiles to strike at Pakistan's most-wanted militant Mullah Fazlullah on
November 24, 2014, whom they "narrowly missed".

24. Conti…
• The United States later used drone missiles to kill several of Pakistan's most wanted militants who were hiding in a
remote region close to the Afghan border in November 2014. The Pakistani Zarb-e-Azb operation against militant in
North Waziristan also, in the words of Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, "fractured" the Haqqani Network, long accused by the
United States of having a safe harbor in Pakistan.
• Following an unprecedented two-week-long visit by Pakistan's most senior military official Gen. Raheel Sharif,
Rep. Adam Schiff stated that US-Pakistani relations were on the upswing following several tense years of dysfunction.
• On February 11, 2016, US government has proposed US$860 million in aid for Pakistan during the 2016–17 fiscal year,
including $265 million for military hardware in addition to counterinsurgency funds.
• The accusation that US senator John McCain leveled during his visit to Afghanistan in July 2016. The Taliban continues
to control significant parts of the country, getting assistance from Pakistan's insurgent Haqqani network, he said. The
Haqqani network has crossed the border from North Waziristan, Pakistan, to carry out attacks against the U.S.-backed
Afghan government. I'm very concerned about the proposed cutbacks in the troop strength in Afghanistan.

25. Conti…

26. 9. The Relations under Presidency of Donald
Trump: 2016-2020
• On August 21, 2017, Donald Trump announced his new strategy for Afghan War and accused Pakistan of providing safe
havens to terrorists.
"The Pakistani people have suffered greatly from terrorism and extremism. We recognize those contributions and
those sacrifices, but Pakistan has also sheltered the same organizations that try every single day to kill our people", Trump
said. Moreover, Trump also urged India for its role in the war.
• The US encouraged India to have increased/ more and more military roles in Afghanistan or a direct military role.
• The coercive Policy adopted by Trump against Pakistan/hardening of the US stance in Afghanistan. On January 1, 2018,
Donald Trump again criticized Pakistan, saying "they have given us nothing but lies and deceit". President Trump
also announced cancelling a $300 million disbursement to Pakistan, citing the country's failure to take strong actions
against Afghan Taliban militants and their safe havens in Pakistan.
• Trump, in an interview with Fox News aired on November 18, accused Pakistan of helping to hide Al-Qaeda founder
Osama bin Laden, who was killed in 2011 during a raid by U.S. Special Forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

27. Conti…
• However, the relations between the two countries improved after Pakistani Prime
Minister Imran Khan visited United States and met President Donald
Trump. Many experts viewed Khan's visit to United States as 'reset in the bilateral
relationship between the two countries'.
• In September 2019, during a joint rally at Houston, Trump refused to endorse
India's repeated allegations against Pakistan. After the joint rally, Trump called
himself a 'friend' of Pakistan and termed Imran Khan as a 'great leader'.
• In January 2020, President Trump once again held a meeting with Prime Minister
Khan in Davos, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. President Trump
hailed the growing relationship between the United States and Pakistan. He said
that United States has never been closer with Pakistan than it is currently under his
administration. This was the third meeting between the two countries and Trump
once again offered to mediate on Kashmir issue. His remarks were welcomed by
Prime Minister Khan.

28. 10. Pak-US relations under Joe Biden’s
Administration
• 28 January 2021 Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld a lower Court's Judgement acquitting Omar Saeed Sheikh: the man
convicted of masterminding the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal's Journalist Daniel Pearl. The Biden Administration
Reaction Swiftly denounced the Court's decision calling it an "affront to terrorism victims elsewhere, including
Pakistan", adding that the US expected "the Pakistani government to explicitly review its options to ensure justice is
served".
• The Nature and Direction of Biden Administration's Policy towards Pakistan is looking through the prism of
Afghanistan. The administration viewed Pakistan's role in Afghanistan as a "short-term" project. It expected Islamabad
to persuade the Taliban to throttle down the military campaign against the Afghan government. There has been no
response to Pakistan's calls for developing broader-based economic relationships.
• US increasing skepticism towards Taliban. Though withdrawal from Afghanistan remained the Biden administration's
preferred policy yet it also gave the indication that it would review the deal signed with the Taliban, arguing that the
Taliban had violated all the conditions such as reduction of violence, being genuine in negotiations with the Afghan
government and stopping support to transmnational networks such as Al-Qaeda which were set as prerequisites for
withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

29. Conti…
• Perceptible Change in US policy towards Pakistan's role in the settlement
of the Afghan Conflict. If one compares Biden's policy
regarding/Pakistan's role in the settlement/resolution of the Afghan
conflict, one can highlight a perceptible difference: Trump administration
in certain ways assigned Pakistan the role of the "Third Party",
particularly since 2018. Whereas the Biden administration treated Pakistan
as an actor among the other actors.
• The most recent developments in Afghanistan have pushed the Pak-US
relations towards more uncertainty. The future course of the relationship
between the two governments would be largely determined by the Afghan
situation. How would the Taliban behave? The US response in the wake of
further deterioration in US relations with Taliban. US desire to have some
stabilizing role in the region that is securing some bases.

30. Conti…
• Gen Bajwa: "while CPEC remains central to our vision while seeing Pakistan
through the CPEC prism is also misleading. Our immensely vital geo-strategic
location and a transformed vision make us a country of immense and diverse
potential".
• During the 2022 Pakistani constitutional crisis, Imran Khan blamed the US
officials Donald Lu and named the United States as the country in question
over a 'threatening letter', warns American 'regime change' for his downfall.
• In October 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden called Pakistan “one of the most
dangerous nations in the world” during an address in California while
speaking about the changing global geopolitical situation. Pakistani Prime
Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari rejected
the statement as baseless, and the country’s acting foreign secretary summoned
the U.S. ambassador for an explanation of Biden’s remarks.

31. 11. Future Prognosis
 Immediate relations:
• Not very optimistic scenario can be drawn in view of the
increasing uncertainties in the relations
• The changing situation in Afghanistan.
 Distant relations:
• Pakistan’s role in the Region.
• US desire in de-escalating India-Pakistan Conflict.
• Trade relations between two countries.
• US desire for peace in South Asia.

32. Conti…
 Suggestions to improve relations:
• Pakistan needs to strike/maintain a sensible balance in its policies on China and US.
• Both countries may harbor a number of grievances against each other over a range of issues, yet despite that, they should
see the bright side of the relations as well as take cognizance of the realities that confront the two countries. This kind of
approach in certain ways may bring about considerable improvement in the relations between the two countries.
• In view of the development of the India-US-Afghan nexus of interests against Pakistan. The latter should not let itself be
the victim of isolation. And a possible way or option is to strengthen relations with the US.
• One should realize the intrinsic/fundamental nature of the Pak-US relationship. Oscillating nature of the relationship:
convergence to divergence and divergence to convergence. Pakistan should explore areas of convergence.