Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has recently replied to the letter by US President Joseph R. Biden underscoring the key importance attached by Pakistan to its relations with the United States. While reciprocating Biden’s goodwill and sincere thoughts, Prime Minister Shehbaz underscored that Islamabad desires to work with Washington to achieve the common goal of global peace and security, regional development, and prosperity. Shehbaz maintained that the two countries have been working on important initiatives in the fields of energy, climate change, agriculture, health, and education, whilst Islamabad not only intends to strengthen these bonds but seeks expansion in bilateral cooperation in multiple avenues such as energy sector, the Green Alliance Initiative, climate change and other pressing issues to the mankind.
Historically, President Biden did not engage personally with the Pakistani leaders over the past three years after assuming US Presidency in early 2021. Neither did he reach out to former prime minister Imran Khan after his election victory, nor did he communicate with Shehbaz upon his succession in April 2022. Despite crucial US military draw dawn from Afghanistan, superfloods in Pakistan in the following year, and other challenging issues including the War in Ukraine and the Gaza Conflict. Biden didn’t feel a need to consult with the former US ally and the sole Muslim nuclear state in the world. As now, the President has broken his silence after a long period, might it be his political need in the face of the next year’s Presidental contest or a strategic compulsion sensitized by the top US military Commander General Michael Kurilla, who stressed the importance of Pakistan and urged the US government to engage with Islamabad on merit.
Pakistan and the United States have a long history of bilateral relations, teamwork, and cooperation. Both countries have enjoyed a multifaceted and broad-based relationship, driven by mutual interests in all walks of life ranging from education, trade, and investment to Intelligence collaboration, defense, and security. Historically, the resource-deficient and security-centric Pakistan remained heavily dependent on American military and economic assistance while the US strategists successfully invented a trustworthy ally in South Asia to carry forward their anti-communism agenda in the region. Pakistan played a pivotal role in checking communism during the Cold War and the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, while Islamabad’s bridging role in the US-China rapprochement during the 70s was the landmark achievement of Pak-US friendship. Later, Pakistan became an important Non-NATO ally of the United States in the War on Terror (WoT), brokered the Doha agreement, and also facilitated US withdrawal from neighbouring Afghanistan in mid-2021.
The regional geo-strategic landscape has significantly sensitized the former allies to reset their ties against common threats despite their nonalignment in certain areas including Washington’s romance with New Delhi and Pakistan’s economic and security relations with China, Russia, and neighboring Iran. Although, Pak-US military ties and counter-terrorism cooperation had always remained in place despite political and economic estrangement between the two countries throughout the past. The current upsurge in terrorism in the AfPak region and the congregation of terror outfits in neighbouring Afghanistan has specifically converged Pak-US interests on a single-point agenda at this moment. Based on previous partnerships, there is no other trustworthy ally for the United States except Pakistan which plays an effective role against the widely anticipated security challenges in the broader South Asia region. The American civilian leaders have had an indifferent attitude towards Pakistan in recent years, but the US military establishment is well aware of Pakistan’s geostrategic importance and wants a working relationship with Islamabad. That’s why, the US CENTCOM Chief stressed the importance of a good relationship with Pakistan during multiple hearings before the US Senate Standing committees in recent days.
Realistically, Pakistan is a sovereign state and the US government should neither view its relationship with Islamabad in the context of Washington’s policy with Kabul, New Delhi, or Beijing nor it should attempt to curb Pakistan’s ties with China, Russia, Iran, or Afghanistan. Although, Biden’s rapprochement is a little delayed endeavour yet it is important the US President finally perceives the urgency of Pak-US ties in the maintenance of regional stability, global peace, and security. There are tremendous opportunities for mutual cooperation in diverse fields, particularly trade and investment, renewable energy, education, science and technology, defense and security, counter-terrorism, and organized transnational crimes including human trafficking, drug enforcement, and smuggling. There is a dire need for concerted efforts and apolitical approaches to achieve shared objectives that will benefit both nations and surely have a positive impact on regional and global affairs at large.
