The Question of Afghanistan and Its Impact on U.S. Relations with Pakistan: The Need for Pragmatic Engagement

Relations between the U.S. and Pakistan have always been cyclical, oscillating from collaboration and friendship to noncooperation and enmity. A core reason for this is a failure by consecutive American administration to understand the nature of the Pakistani political system, in which social groups are central. Accordingly, U.S. policymakers have expectations and make demands that often manifest through the rubric of democracy promotion. The paper identifies two key obstacles to democracy promotion in Pakistan: ungoverned territories and social identity groups. The section examines these elements in respect to Afghanistan. The reason for that is because the second section expands the argument by shifting attention to U.S. policymakers who appear to have place Afghanistan at the heart of U.S. engagement in South Asia. In doing so, it is argue that as long as Afghanistan remains key to U.S. national security concerns, American interaction with Pakistan remains limited because the relations are not about the U.S. and Pakistan per se, but rather on how Pakistan can help the U.S. meet its national security interests in Afghanistan.