‘Pak-US ties transactional, based on mutual mistrust’
Wajid Ali Syed
WASHINGTON: The relations between the US and Pakistan have for too long been transactional in nature while at the same time based on mutual mistrust, the former American envoy to Islamabad said in a cable to Washington in 2009.
The document was published Sunday by the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks. Former ambassador Anne Patterson’s communique was sent ahead of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s visit to Washington to meet US officials.
Outlining the financial help provided by the US, she wrote,” We now are providing approximately $2 billion annually to Pakistan, including $1.2 billion in Coalition Support Fund reimbursements, $150 million to improve socio-economic conditions in FATA, $300 million in ESF aid for the rest of Pakistan; over $10 million for internally displaced persons fleeing combat in Bajaur, Mohmand and Swat, and an imminent $15 million in aid to the NWFP police.”
In another cable during the same period, the former ambassador suggested that the US should tell Pakistan to stop supporting Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, and take action against those responsible for Mumbai attacks. She said the present civilian leadership in Pakistan is the most pro-Indian dispensation that New Delhi can hope to see though, which is not the case with the army and the ISI. Patterson said both sides should resume the composite dialogue, re-establish back-channel negotiations, and increase trade across both the Wagah border and the Line of Control.
Ambassador Patterson opined in the letter to Washington that the Pakistan civilian government had shifted its threat focus away from India though the Army and ISI are yet to turn the corner.
