Could remove long standing thaw between the two countries
With Pakistan increasingly facing a strain on its external and internal fronts, the visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry has seemingly ‘eased’ its relationship with the US, for the time being at least. Relations had been on knife’s edge since the November 2011 Salala attacks and dialogue between the two countries had been suspended as the ante was upped by the anti-US lobby to “shoot down US drones.” Kerry’s visit was supposed to have brought the announcement of a curtailed drone programme. The long delayed visit, first expected in June, brought with it no clear-cut curtailment plan, rather Kerry offered the vague statement, “I think the programme will end as we have eliminated most of the threat and continue to eliminate it.” While this may be considered a “softening” of the US stance from what President Obama earlier outlined, it is not expected to go down well with the anti-US lobby in Pakistan.
Nonetheless, progress was made on numerous fronts among the two countries locked in the war on terror. Kerry’s announcement that there was an agreement to resume a full partnership indicated that most outstanding issues were settled to the satisfaction of both governments. Kerry met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his advisor on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz and the Chief of the Army Staff, and it appeared that the longstanding relation between Sharif and Kerry helped make the meeting more comfortable. Sharif asked about the health of Kerry’s wife while Kerry spoke warmly of dining with the Sharif’s before they got onto the serious business. High-level negotiations will now be resumed over security issues with the Afghan withdrawal and dialogue with the Taliban set to be critical topics of discussion.
Moreover, Kerry has also invited PM Nawaz Sharif to come to Washington to meet with President Barack Obama, a visit that would require the laying out of important groundwork. Kerry candidly admitted that, “It is also no secret that along this journey in the last few years we’ve experienced a few differences.’’ These included including a CIA contractor shooting to death two Pakistanis in Lahore and the covert US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. However, the new set of talks are set to range from border management to counterterrorism to promoting US private investment and to Pakistan’s own journey to economic revitalisation. While relations have now taken a step forward, the core reasons for the mistrust between the two countries are yet unresolved. While the resumption of dialogue is a positive step, issues such as cross border attacks over the Afghan border can only be resolved at a regional summit. Perhaps the next step, before Sharif boards a plane to meet Obama, is for key regional leaders – Manmohan Singh, Hamid Karzai, Nawaz Sharif and John Kerry – to convene.