Tumultous Relationship between Pakistan and the U.S. in 2011
Pakistan has a history of having difficult relations with the U.S. It has always been a relationship based on interests and that is the primary reason for Pakistan not having a stable relationship with the U.S. But in past ten years, 2011 has been extremely tough for these two countries.
The biggest set back to this relationship in 2011, started with the Raymond Davis case. The CIA contractor had killed two Pakistani citizens in Lahore. It was this particular case which made the general population aware of CIA's presence in Pakistan. Although Raymond Davis case was resolved, but it highly ignited Anti-American sentiment in Pakistanis. The memory of this particular issue was still fresh among Pakistanis that an another devestating incident took place. This was the attack of U.S. forces on Pakistan's land to kill Osama Bin Laden. This was highly embarssing for Pakistanis all over th world. Worl'd most dangerous and top terrorist was found just few miles away from Pakistan's Military Academy. Killing Osama Bin Laden was a big success for the U.S., but it left Pakistan divided. Killing of OBL created huge differences among Pakistan's military establishment and the civilian government. Those differences still exist among the two institutions.Presence of OBL in Pakistan also raised Anti-Pakistan sentiment among Americans, and the distrust among two countries was now at its peak.
This relationship got worse when in September, Admiral Mike Mullen, blamed Pakistan's ISI, for supporting Haqqani network in Afghanistan against American forces. Things got a bit better when Hilary Clinton along with military leadership of U.S. came to Pakistan. But this betterment in the relationship was only temporary. The last major incident that completely changed the relationship between Pakistan and the U.S. was NATO forces attack on Pakistan's two border checkpostst. In this unfortunate incident 24 Pakistan's military men were martyred. Finally, Pakistan took some major steps to show Americans that it will no longer tolerate any such action by U.S. forces. Pakistan cut NATO supplies to Afghanistan which is essential for Americans to continue war in Afghanistan. Not only this , Americans were forced to vacate Shamsi airbase and Pakistan also refused to attend Bonn conference on Afghanistan.
Many analysts believe that if Pakistan had taken such serious steps right after the Raymond Davis incident, the checkpost attack might have been avoided. Now Pakistan has finally decided that it wants new terms of engagement with the U.S. Sherry Rehman, the new Pakistan'a ambassador in the U.S. will be negotiating these new terms with the U.S. adminstration.
The relations between Pakistan and the U.S. will not be perfect in 2012. However, both countries on the basis of their interests would not want to completely suspend this relationship. I also made news reports on the same topic. Here afe the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogvXRn8MX94&feature=g-all-u&
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfOfmPkLpC4&context=C3933359ADOEgsToPDskJStljjRYhLATz4FOTCzT2i
context=G262098fFAAAAAAAAAAA
The biggest set back to this relationship in 2011, started with the Raymond Davis case. The CIA contractor had killed two Pakistani citizens in Lahore. It was this particular case which made the general population aware of CIA's presence in Pakistan. Although Raymond Davis case was resolved, but it highly ignited Anti-American sentiment in Pakistanis. The memory of this particular issue was still fresh among Pakistanis that an another devestating incident took place. This was the attack of U.S. forces on Pakistan's land to kill Osama Bin Laden. This was highly embarssing for Pakistanis all over th world. Worl'd most dangerous and top terrorist was found just few miles away from Pakistan's Military Academy. Killing Osama Bin Laden was a big success for the U.S., but it left Pakistan divided. Killing of OBL created huge differences among Pakistan's military establishment and the civilian government. Those differences still exist among the two institutions.Presence of OBL in Pakistan also raised Anti-Pakistan sentiment among Americans, and the distrust among two countries was now at its peak.
This relationship got worse when in September, Admiral Mike Mullen, blamed Pakistan's ISI, for supporting Haqqani network in Afghanistan against American forces. Things got a bit better when Hilary Clinton along with military leadership of U.S. came to Pakistan. But this betterment in the relationship was only temporary. The last major incident that completely changed the relationship between Pakistan and the U.S. was NATO forces attack on Pakistan's two border checkpostst. In this unfortunate incident 24 Pakistan's military men were martyred. Finally, Pakistan took some major steps to show Americans that it will no longer tolerate any such action by U.S. forces. Pakistan cut NATO supplies to Afghanistan which is essential for Americans to continue war in Afghanistan. Not only this , Americans were forced to vacate Shamsi airbase and Pakistan also refused to attend Bonn conference on Afghanistan.
Many analysts believe that if Pakistan had taken such serious steps right after the Raymond Davis incident, the checkpost attack might have been avoided. Now Pakistan has finally decided that it wants new terms of engagement with the U.S. Sherry Rehman, the new Pakistan'a ambassador in the U.S. will be negotiating these new terms with the U.S. adminstration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogvXRn8MX94&feature=g-all-u&
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfOfmPkLpC4&context=C3933359ADOEgsToPDskJStljjRYhLATz4FOTCzT2i
context=G262098fFAAAAAAAAAAA
Nice post, tweeted it. Check out the results,
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Hammad sb
ReplyDeleteGood reporting Beenish. Just saw the PBS Frontline entitled The Secret War (also airing with the sickening report - Opium Brides) which will not be helping Pakistan-US relations. See http://www.PBS.org/whbh/pages/frontline/secret-war/
ReplyDeleteNeither NATO or US can claim innocence in contributing to the tragedy of opium brides. I am sickened to see this so clearly is a reality for many families. We are creating enemies there since there is no clear enemy, and young children are pawns in the farce.
Anyway, Neither NATO or US can claim innocence in contributing to the tragedy of opium brides. I am sickened to see this so clearly is a reality for many families. We are creating enemies there since there is no clear enemy, and young children are pawns in the farce.communicating is vital so keep up the excellent work!
OK, this was not the correct post I just made since it included my Facebook post from yesterday. In any case, my guess is that you have used the PBS website. In my opinion, as well as countless others, Frontline is the best news show in the US, bar none.
ReplyDelete