Under Biden, Pakistan and the US face a dilemma about the breadth of their relationship

[nahtanbob]

I don't think India wants to be propped up against China.

Indians may not have realised yet, but the US doesn't really need India anymore now that they're on their way out of Afghanistan.

India was the West's darling since September 2001 just to keep pressure on Pakistan during the war in Afghanistan, however, that war has almost come to an end.

The only other way India can serve Western interests is by attacking China and that's it. I think the US Navy's freedom of navigation operations in Indian claimed waters was a confirmation of this - that either fight China or we go our separate ways.

most of the propping of India is political and economic. On military matters India wants to hedge its bets.

 

[Pakistan Space Agency]

most of the propping of India is political and economic. On military matters India wants to hedge its bets.

What india wants and what india gets are two different things.

Just remember that it was Japan who advised the US to persuade, coerce India into the Indo-Pacific theatre just to divert some of the Chinese pressure from East Asia to South Asia.

The US on the other hand really wasn't and isn't interested in India playing some major role in the world unless India chooses to be totally in American camp like Europe and Japan.

 

[nahtanbob]

What india wants and what india gets a are two different things.

Just remember that it was Japan who advised the US to persuade, coerce India into the Indo-Pacific theatre just to divert some of the Chinese pressure from East Asia to South Asia.

The US on the other hand really wasn't and isn't interested in India playing some major role in the world unless India chooses to be totally in American camp like Europe and Japan.

I do not disagree here. America has to listen to its allies. In fact that is the reason we are number one hegemon

 

[cloud4000]

Why do Pakistanis assume the Taliban are on their side? The Taliban are no one side aside from their own. Just because Pakistan offered the Taliban sanctuary and refuge doesn't mean anything. Afghans gladly took US weapons to fight the Soviets, only to attack the Americans over a decade later.

The Taliban will pursue their interests regardless of what Islamabad wants or needs.

 

[Imad.Khan]

Why do Pakistanis assume the Taliban are on their side? The Taliban are no one side aside from their own. Just because Pakistan offered the Taliban sanctuary and refuge doesn't mean anything. Afghans gladly took US weapons to fight the Soviets, only to attack the Americans over a decade later.

The Taliban will pursue their interests regardless of what Islamabad wants or needs.

Historical inaccuracy in your post. Please research and report back the date, time and location that Taliban attacked the US?

 

[CrazyZ]

LOOKING AHEAD
Pakistan has made it clear that it wants a different relationship with the U.S. But what’s equally clear is that the United States isn’t buying its new geo-economic pitch quite so easily. Part of this is because it is unrealistic: Pakistan doesn’t yet have the economic depth needed for this new approach. But it would still be useful for the Biden administration to look beyond its singular Afghanistan lens at Pakistan. The country has changed since 2016; it knows it needs a new paradigm, and business as usual is not enough. This presents a good time to rethink U.S. engagement with Pakistan. Climate change would have been an obvious new issue on which to cooperate, and not engaging with Pakistan in that arena could be a missed opportunity.

For a new approach for getting the relationship to work, both countries will have to do more to meet each other somewhere in the middle. The Biden team needs to keep an open mind and look at Pakistan with a broader lens. And if Pakistan doesn’t want strategic concerns to dominate its relationship with the U.S., it needs to offer up something more than words: real economic incentives.

Pakistan needs to do what its been doing and the issues will resolve themselves. If Pakistan can continue to boost exports and economic growth then investment will flow on its own from the west. B3W framework for green projects are an option. So is debt amnesty or expanded GSP status.

 

[M. Sarmad]

Pakistan has taken a clear stance ... Pakistan will be a US ally in peace, not conflict .. Staying "neutral" won't come easy or without cost of course ...

 

[Meengla]

Why do Pakistanis assume the Taliban are on their side? The Taliban are no one side aside from their own. Just because Pakistan offered the Taliban sanctuary and refuge doesn't mean anything. Afghans gladly took US weapons to fight the Soviets, only to attack the Americans over a decade later.

The Taliban will pursue their interests regardless of what Islamabad wants or needs.

It is true that even under the best of the circumstances (between 1996-2001), the Taliban govt didn't recognize the Durand Line and even had occasional artillery fire exchange with Pakistan, but Pakistan was the Talibans' biggest backer and Pakistan has played the 'double game' since 9/11 to keep the Talibans as a viable force when the inevitable American withdrawal would happen. Per a Gen. Hamid Gul statement in late 2001--the Talibans didn't 'lose' to America: They simply dispersed to fight another day in guerilla warfare.

Pakistan has taken a lot of hits to support the Afghan Talibans and the Talibans know that well. Indians could try to influence them by offering $$ or whatever but I bet India would never be able to have the Talibans in their pockets like the Indians have the Northern Alliance drug dealing thugs; Talibans have PRINCIPLES whether you agree with them or not.