With recent relevations of how the US had listed the ISI (Pakistans intelligence service) as a terrorist organisation and to be treated as such, as well as drone attacks, and the CIA operative jailed then released for killing two people suspected of trying to rob him, I am amazed to how this relationship has survived and how cooperation against terrorism is still ongoing despite the huge public pressure in Pakistan to cut relations with the US and to limit US influence inside the country.
How can the diplomatic relationshp survive, in my opinion the relations between the two countries is one crisis away from a major diplomatic rift which will be hard/impossible to repair.
The 911 Timeline showed that Atta was funded by the ISI . Pakistan’s secret police chief sent Atta 100,000 dollars 2 days before the towers fell. They are not our friends .
Both countries have very different views on the endgame in Afghanistan. And interests. As it is the US has at present zero material influence in Pakistan and with the Government currently running around finding *someone * to join the coalition and save its job, not likely to improve.
US-Pakistan relations will survive for the forseeable future because there’s more to them than just the terrorism problem. There are also lots of pipelines the west wants to build through Pakistan, a port in Balochistan province that the US wants to export natural gas from, etc. etc. Even from just the terrorism/national security angle, we’ve got to keep propping up whatever civilian/military government is in power because if Pakistan falls into its constituent parts it means big trouble in the region, especially over Kashmir, some rump Islamist government with nukes, etc. etc.
I’d think the country splitting into its component parts would in the long term enhance stability, there’s too many competing interests vying to be top dog of the centralised government. Same with Afghanistan.
A country being a friend or not is not binary (yes/no). It is a continuum.
There are many in Pakistan that are friendly to the U.S. There are many that are not.
In my opinion, you cannot just yank support because some or even many don’t like us.
One needs to fight and support the friends of the U.S. in Pakistan. Not punish them because of the actions of people that are not friends. However, I agree that we should re-evaluate whether who we think are friends are actually friends…