A step in right direction but a lot remains to be done
The relations between USA and Pakistan have often been a mixed bag. Both have their share of issues with each other; however, their mutual beneficial ventures trump over their individual concerns. That’s why after every upheaval in their relation, they come around and find a way to move forward in a bid to address their joint issues. The recent snag that this relation had hit seems to have found its light at the end of the tunnel with the US announcing that it will be conducting a feasibility report for Pakistan’s Diamir-Bhasha dam along with it putting its weight behind Islamabad’s bid to increase its loan package from the IMF to $7.3bn.
This may be a good news but on another front Islamabad appears not to be so lucky. US special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan James Dobbins was expected to arrive in the country on Friday but officials at Pakistan’s foreign office were still awaiting a confirmation of his arrival and schedule from the US embassy, much like what US State Secretary John Kerry did last month. With the new government in power, Pakistan is looking forward to a change in its foreign policy regarding drone strikes, an issue that has kept the US and Pakistan on tethers for quite some time now and which the US is adamant to continue despite their illegality and Pakistan’s protests at every forum. The State Secretary was supposed not only to discuss bilateral matters like resumption of ministerial-level strategic dialogue and contentious issues like drone strikes, but also regional issues as to how to take forward the stalemated peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan. As his schedule has not yet been conveyed to Pakistani authorities, observers claim that it could be because the US wants to pressurize Pakistan to change the agenda of the talks to no talks on drone strikes, asking Pakistan to revive the Qatar peace process along with cutting down the talks on prisoner swap. However the US State Secretary, or for that matter Mr Dobbins too, might take it these issues are bound to come up at another forum if not in this round of talks.
For Pakistan as encouraging as the announcement of USAID funding a feasibility report on a dam, Pakistan’s flagship project, and US support to secure a larger loan package from the IMF, unless both countries act in way to defuse the tension between them and address the real issues, there can be no real long term relation, only a need based relation which might end up in no one’s benefit. On its part, Pakistan needs to take on the militants and their hideouts right away so to devoid the US of its pretext of using the drone strikes. The US should also realise the sensitivities and legalities of these strikes and put an end to them.
