Prodding Pakistan
Another phase in friction with a sometimes ally
An assessment of the state of American relations with Pakistan depends on how one sees aid, how one regards President Donald Trump’s tweets, and the breadth of scope with which one regards those relations.
Mr. Trump recently took a tweet shot at those relations, He pointed out that America has provided Pakistan some $33 billion in aid since 2002. It had come largely as part of the United States’ response to the 2001 9/11 attacks on America. He lamented what he considers to be inadequate Pakistani cooperation with the United States in counterterrorism at this time and threatened a cutoff of U.S. aid.
Pakistan, after a meeting of its National Security Council on Tuesday, responded that it considered Mr. Trump’s comments in his New Year’s Day tweet “completely incomprehensible” and of “no importance,” pledging to play a “constructive role” in counterterrorism efforts in the future. What it does now is permit the shipment across Pakistan to Afghanistan of almost all the materiel U.S. forces use in Afghanistan and provide to the Afghan government, and the more or less free use by the United States of drones in Pakistan for surveillance and, on occasion, attacks on enemies.
In August, the Trump administration suspended $255 million in military aid to Pakistan. Upping the ante, the State Department on Thursday froze almost all security assistance to the nation. In both cases, U.S. officials underlined that the money was not being eliminated from the budget, but held up until Pakistan changes its behavior. In addition, the State Department added Pakistan to a watch list for “severe violations of religious freedom,” joining 10 other nations from Iran to North Korea and purported U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. In policy terms, it’s insubstantial, an irritant with no force.
The close U.S. relationship with Pakistan is longstanding, including the facilitative role Pakistan played when President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were working to open the door to U.S.-China relations. It has been suggested that Mr. Trump’s government is seeking to switch America’s close alliance in South Asia from Pakistan to its rival, India, but that is and will continue to be difficult to achieve, if it were to be considered desirable.
In the meantime, U.S. relations with Pakistan are bound to be rocky, considering its overall political situation. There is constant sparring for power between its civilian and military authorities. A possible military coup d’etat always lurks on the horizon. Three successful ones have taken place over the decades, along with a few foiled attempts. Pakistan has nuclear weapons and continues to see India, which also has nuclear weapons, as a sworn enemy. Rivalries among Pakistan’s regions and ethnic groups, and even threats of succession must always be borne in mind by whomever is in power in Islamabad. Pakistan hosts an estimated 2.7 million Afghan refugees who have fled the endless wars there.
Mr. Trump is right that, in spite of American aid Pakistan sometimes doesn’t do what we want it to do. At the same time there are many reasons for the United States to extend aid to a country that surpasses sometimes particular American desires regarding its policies. Pakistan appears to have got past the initial offense it took at Mr. Trump’s comments, though the freezing of security aid Thursday is bound get a reaction in Islamabad. Overall, it likes the cooperation and the money that have played their roles in relations for many years now. The United States can, obviously, cut them off permanently, but should do so only after a careful, comprehensive consideration of the elements and the importance of the relationship.