Pakistan Between Mosque and Military

"I would say that the United States has had a tempestuous relationship with Pakistan. There have been moments of great embrace between the two of us in the 50s and 60s when we built the secret U2 base there to fly over the Soviet Union. Also in the 1980s when we supported the mujahideen in the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan and then at the beginning of this century when the United States and Pakistan worked very closely against al Qaeda. These periods of great highs have also been interrupted by great lows when we have broken relations, we have sanctioned Pakistan and we have cut off arms exports at critical moments of their history. It is this up and down, oscillating nature of the relationship that has proven in the long term to be so damaging because it sent a message to the Pakistanis that America is not a reliable partner for the simple reason that we haven’t been a reliable partner for Pakistan. Well, it is not good. I think we need to help Pakistan help itself. The first and most important part of that is helping to nurture Pakistani democracy and Pakistani civil institutions and civil society. In addition to the ups and downs of the US-Pakistan relationship, the one constancy is that we have supported every military dictator! It’s a remarkably bipartisan history. Republicans and Democrats alike have embraced every Pakistani man in uniform on horseback and supported them. One of the consequences of that is that we have helped to unbalance the civil-military relationship in Pakistan and strengthen the hand of military dictators, many of whom also worked to support the development of jihadist extremist groups in Pakistan. That is why I call it a Deadly Embrace . It hasn’t been good for either side."