Pak-US relations in need of guidance
Pakistan’s relation with the US, beset with allegations of duplicity and blackmailing on both sides, has never been a smooth one. Strangely, neither side has done much to improve relations. The Salala checkpost incident has sent relations into a downward spiral, with no apparent arrest in its slide. The Pakistani public feels incensed, putting the government on a solid pedestal to raise it voice for a re-evaluation of how the US treats and deals with its non-Nato ally.
As PM Yousaf Raza Gilani stressed the need for the US, in a meeting with the US ambassador Cameron Munter, to provide some assurance regarding any cross-border unilateral action, such as the one on 26 November, the US Senate passed a bill to withhold almost $700m in aid to Pakistan. Instead of placating an ally that feels worse than a betrayed lover and has lost thousands in lives and billions in economy, the US seems all set to use its carrots-and-stick tactic again, with the carrot part being that the US president has to certify that Pakistan is taking steps to control the raw material that is being used in the IEDs against the US and Nato troops in Afghanistan. But an important variable has been left out of the equation – the US Congress has withheld the very aid without which Pakistani military finds itself impossible to operate.
The menace of terrorism is a common enemy. No one country can defeat it alone. Cooperation between the US and Pakistan is pretty much the only basis on which this war can be won. With America leaving this part of the world in 2014, it is Pakistan that will be facing the aftermath of this long-drawn out war. Wary of the fact that what has happened once before might happen again, Pakistan’s attempts at wringing out as much as it can in its favour are only logical. With public ire at an all time high against this unpopular war, the governments of Pakistan and US should focus on how they can quell this rising tide, instead of bickering over who gets who to do whose bidding. Such steps as the one taken by the US Congress will only exacerbate the situation this tumultuous relation is in.
