Pakistan

'US needs Pakistan more than Pakistan needs US'

Former US ambassador to India says trappings of a US-Pak relationship are causing some heartburn in India.

Ppi June 21, 2011

The United States "needs Pakistan more than the latter needs America", a former US ambassador to India said on Tuesday.

"We tend to need Pakistan more than Pakistan needs us. That's the current dilemma, because in many ways the US is utterly dependent on Pakistan for logistical access to Afghanistan," former US Ambassador to India, Thomas Pickering, told the National Bureau of Asian Research, a Washington-based think tank in an interview.

"In some respects this situation is paradoxical, because in my own view the US is in Afghanistan more to avoid destabilising Pakistan than for almost any other reason. It is utterly strange that at the same time that we are in Afghanistan trying to help Pakistan, the Pakistanis see our struggle against the Afghan Taliban as a struggle against erstwhile allies," Pickering said.

On the one hand, India is flattered, or was in the past, by the notion that the US sees it as the largest and most significant power in South Asia, while Pakistan finds that view utterly reprehensible, he said.

"Pakistanis would like American aspirations and interests in the region to afford them a position of full equality. To some extent, that went the way of the past with President Clinton. Now with Afghanistan, the trappings of a US-Pakistan relationship are causing some degree of heartburn in India."

COMMENTS (13)

kamran | 12 years ago | Reply Its a real disturbing fact but its a fact.The game is on for over ten years and the US is caught in the mud without helping by pakistan the us will not be able to pull out.As with Pakistan we know that the US is controlling but seriously isnt that control becoming weaker and weaker and states like and Organizations like EU and SCO and causing fears in US.Everything cannot be solved with bombs and tomahawks.US always gain tactical gains but loose the strategic battle.case of iraq and afghanistan and now trying the same in Libya.

BruteForce | 12 years ago | Reply What rubbish. US needs Pakistan to win a war. Pakistan needs US to survive! Remember, if the US decides to isolates you not only the US, you will be isolated by EU, Japan, Canada, UK,etc., essentially well over half of World's GDP. Also, US virtually controls International financial institutions like IMF, WB.etc. Where will Pakistan get the money to survive? China showed how much it cares by initially offering lesser money than even India in the recent floods! Stop carrying such news which carry so many lies.