The recent India-Pakistan crisis reportedly brought the two nuclear-armed South Asian countries to the brink of war before the United States intervened and pulled them back. This crisis highlights the need for continued US engagement with Pakistan, a critical country in a geostrategic location with which Washington has historically had a complex relationship.
The relationship between Pakistan and the United States has weathered many ups and downs. In the opening months of his second term, President Donald Trump has indicated that he intends to adopt a more pragmatic foreign policy, one that maintains relations even with countries that hold beliefs or values different from his own. As a result, the relationship between the United States and Pakistan has a better chance of improvement than it has enjoyed in recent years—if both countries’ leaders are able to focus on shared interests rather than ideological differences.
American critics of Pakistan have often accused Islamabad of accepting US military assistance without aligning with Washington’s priorities on India or Afghanistan. Pakistanis, on the other hand, have complained that the United States has failed to consider Pakistan’s concerns and interests in the region while demanding its unconditional support.
More than its predecessors, the Trump administration has acknowledged that a country’s geography may dictate its strategic calculus. Pakistan considers both India and Afghanistan critical to its security interests; accordingly, Islamabad’s view on these countries is likely to be different from Washington’s.
Rather than insisting that Pakistan see its neighborhood through a Western lens, if the US accepted Islamabad’s different understanding of its geopolitical realities, Washington would have a better chance at a functional transactional partnership with Pakistan. Such a move would not prohibit the US from promoting democratic values or demanding accountability from Islamabad for its past support of militancy and terrorism.
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