The United States needs to engage with Pakistan despite its long-standing mistrust of Afghanistan, with investment and climate cooperation key to reducing the South Asian country’s growing dependence on China, a study group recommended on Tuesday. .
The group released its findings during Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s visit to Washington a week after Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s visit.
The study group, which did not include the US government, included scholars and former US ambassadors to Pakistan Ryan Crocker, Cameron Minter and Robin Raphael, as well as former Pakistani ambassador to Washington Hussain Haqqani.
Pakistan and the US were partners in the Cold War and formally in the Afghanistan War. But U.S. officials have lost patience with Islamabad, which they suspect is quietly continuing to support the Taliban, which gained ground last year after the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
“Instead of allowing existing differences to define the partnership, it may be time for both parties to understand each other’s interests so they can find a way to work on areas of mutual concern,” the study group said. said
The US should move beyond leveraging aid to change Pakistan’s policies, a tactic that has proven unsuccessful.
Islamabad in turn needs to accept that “all the problems of Pakistan, especially terrorism and militancy, cannot be laid at the door of the US”.
Pakistan has developed increasingly close ties with China, prompting warnings from the US that Beijing – seen as Washington’s main global rival – could drive the economically troubled country into debt. will give.
The study group said that after first linking Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan or its historical rival India, the US should now avoid viewing relations through the lens of China.
Instead, the U.S. could “help increase Pakistan’s capacity for transparency and compliance” on Chinese loans and reduce dependence on China by encouraging investment by American companies and others.
The US could also focus on building climate resilience – a key challenge for Pakistan, which was recently devastated by floods.
While the U.S. wants to withdraw from Afghanistan, the study group said the need for counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan is “if anything heightened” by the loss of U.S. intelligence assets on the ground.
“While Pakistan and the US often fail to see eye-to-eye when it comes to Afghanistan, China or India, they share mutual interests in achieving regional stability, tackling the problem of extremism and preventing armed conflict in the nuclear South.” share. Asia,” he said.
