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The Pakistan-US relationship fluctuates these days between poor and extremely poor. There is a mutual trust deficit that feeds the yawning gap and regular spats characterise a forced marriage that was never made in heaven. Divorce is not really an option given the strategic and geographic position of Pakistan. But there is a new government in the offing, and a party coming to power that has zero experience of foreign policy. Its leader’s international experience is limited to cricket, though there are senior members of his party that have travelled beyond the back garden.

The visit of Interim US Ambassador J F Hoover to Bani Gala on Wednesday is therefore both timely and interesting. The Americans will be keen to test the diplomatic water with this unknown, and Imran Khan will be — hopefully — acutely aware that how his government handles the Uncle Sam relationship is going to determine much in the future. The usual anodyne platitudes emerged in the official statement afterwards, with Mr Khan saying all the right things is terms of a need to build mutual trust and respect. How could he say different?

Of real note was the reference to Afghanistan and the linkage between Pakistan, the US and that troubled country. Both sides spoke positively of outcomes and futures as well as political solutions to the endless conflict that bedevils Afghanistan. If indeed the incoming government can find a toehold in the largely-defunct peace process and infuse it with fresh ideas and energy then all well and good. Stability in Afghanistan can only be in the greater interests of Pakistan. To a degree, the volatility and hamfistedness of President Trump when it comes to foreign policy could be the fly in any ointment that may be created, and the best that can be hoped for is that Pakistan and America get off on the right foot with one another. Presumably, there will be adjustments to the tiller behind the arras but we hope for a brighter future, after all it cannot get much worse. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2018.

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