Recent Updates from Pakistan

by Mehlaqa Samdani

In describing the US-Pakistan relationship, one Pakistani journalist put it best: “The United States and Pakistan are like Martha and George in Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. They can’t even make love without insulting and abusing each other”. Over the past week, two simultaneous developments have caused further complications in the already tumultuous relationship

The passage of the Kerry-Lugar Bill in the US Senate has caused a great deal of skepticism among ordinary Pakistanis.  While Senator Kerry hailed the $1.5billion a year in civilian aid as “America’s long-term commitment to the people and government of Pakistan”, many Pakistanis see the conditionalities attached as being extremely intrusive, leading one prominent member of parliament to assert, “this is the cheapest rent-a-nation contract in modern history” and “less an assistance package and more a treaty of surrender”. 

Even those who urge a less emotional, more rational, approach to the Bill conclude that Pakistan is “set to remain a tactical ally, not a strategic partner, of the US”.

 Hussain Haqqani (Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington) has been working hard to assure Pakistanis that the Bill does not undermine Pakistan’s sovereignty, but in fact will serve Pakistan’s long-term interests such as limiting the role of the military establishment, combating terrorist networks, etc.  He has also stressed the right of the Pakistani parliament to reject the Bill if it so pleases. 

Another source of contention in US-Pakistan relations includes the increased focus on the Quetta Shura by US officials, leading many in Pakistan to fear the expansion of the US drone campaign into Pakistan’s settled areas. 

While General Kayani, during a recent meeting of the Tripartite Commission categorically stated that this will not be allowed to take place, it is yet unclear how effective his warnings will be, given past (some believe, half-hearted) attempts by the military establishment to prevent these strikes from taking place.  (A good overview of the CIA drone campaign in Pakistan can be found at:

A recent IRI opinion poll conducted in Pakistan (June-August 2009) indicated that 76% of those surveyed were against the use of drone strikes to eliminate terrorists within Pakistan and only 18% showed a willingness to cooperate with the US in the fight against terrorism.