Get over the F16s

There is a need on Pakistan’s side to start talking straight with the US

Pakistan-US relations aren’t as bad as the media or the think tank reports may like one to believe. If anything, the US is far more sensitive to Pakistan’s needs and challenges than it ever was in the past six or more decades. However, engaged in a long war and decades of relationship pivoted around Afghanistan, the bi-lateral relations are bound to hit the rock, especially when there is baggage of unresolved issues and no defined mechanism to mitigate the crisis whenever it hits. While there are indeed pressing issues over which there is an impasse between the two countries, there are some issues that must be off the table and dusted with. It is about time that Pakistan got over the F16s, quit playing the victim card of being abandoned by the US after the Cold War, and most importantly started talking straight with the US.

The truth is that there is nothing left in the F16 issue to rub about apart from being a constant irritant between the two countries causing a deadlock and bad taste. While the F16 issue is a domestic symbol of American duplicity in its relations with Pakistan, there is a lot more that Pakistan loses every single day than what it gains as the issue persists. There are subtle and sometimes not so subtle calls in the US to press Pakistan to get over the F16 issue and move ahead on other issues that are current and over which some level of trust could be re-established. As for the issue of F16s, the security establishment in Pakistan must realise that it has become a matter of internal institutional ego in the US with different departments having different positions on the matter. Pakistan, naturally, is the victim but for its own good it needs to cut back on lobbying for the issue with the Americans so as not to let it define the broader Pakistan-US relations.





Similarly, the establishment in Pakistan is still hung over at the US abandoning Pakistan after the Cold War throwing the country into sanctions enforced by the Pressler Amendment. While the Americans have on record and categorically apologised to Pakistan for that and provided re-assurances that the times have changed and the Americans would like to establish permanent relations with Pakistan, the security establishment in Pakistan is cautious to take the Americans at their words. It is precisely because of that Pakistan keeps its back-up options entertained in Afghanistan in case if the US decides to abandon the region again in haste. But more than that, in recent times, Pakistan has started to use the American abandonment as a wild card to justify some of its actions and also give the US a guilt trip of its past actions — something that may not be going down too well with officials in the US government anymore.

Pakistan’s nervousness is somewhat understandable but the fact that a lot has changed since the end of the Cold War, especially in the case of the US taking a more responsible role in the world that the likely chances of the US completely abandoning Pakistan is out of the question. Secondly, in a more integrated global world with global issues, Pakistan will continue to be at the centre of attention with very little interest of the US to isolate the country, despite all the attempts by Indians. Third and more important, Pakistan may have overplayed its card and it is about time it required a shift in strategy.



There is also a need on Pakistan’s side to start talking straight with the US. At the core of the American frustration isn’t really the Pakistan’s support to Haqqani network or any other issue but mostly it is Pakistan’s dubious talk on issues. Numerous meetings and discussions with American officials all suggest that perhaps Pakistan being blunt to the US about its strategy will go down much better and ease tensions with the US.

Essentially what the establishment in Pakistan should be looking at is to restart the Pakistan-US relations by first letting go the issues that keep the bilateral relations entangled into the past and then playing the ball the way the US wants it by doing the straight talk. The way with which Pakistan’s credibility as a responsible state descends due to its overwhelming focus on the ‘issues’ with the US and not being able to change the conversation in Washington, DC is now frustrating the US and giving an open space to adversaries to plot. Before it is too late to even send envoys to ease the tense relations, it would be wise on Pakistan’s part to let go and move on to reset the relations with the US.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2016.

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