BRIEFING ON PAKISTAN–US RELATIONS BY AMBASSADOR JEHANGIR KARAMAT AT THE UNIVERSITY CLUB, WASHINGTON DC ON
FEBRUARY 27, 2006

The International Committee at the University Club in Washington DC invited Ambassador Jehangir Karamat on February 27, 2006 for briefing on Pakistan–US Relations on the eve of President Bush’s visit to Pakistan.

PAKISTAN’S GEO-STRATEGIC LOCATION

Pakistan is situated in a geo-strategically important neighborhood as it shares borders with Afghanistan, India, Iran and China. It is an area in which the world has a great deal of interest because of various reasons. Looking back into the recent history of the region we can see that the Shiite Islamic Revolution in Iran was a defining moment because it was also co-incidentally the period when Pakistan itself was going through a phase of “deliberate Islamization”. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 marked the beginning of a joint Pakistan-US resistance which led some Islamic leaders at that stage to believe that an Islamic revolution would soon sweep the entire world. However, that dream did not quite become a reality and with the end of Soviet invasion, Afghanistan itself went through a number of phases including a civil war, the emergence of Taliban and finally the Al-Qaeda take over of Taliban. As all that happened in Pakistan’s neighborhood, it also had an impact on the freedom movement in Kashmir: Pakistan has a long border with India and there was continued conflict on the border with India for a long time.

The internal political situation in Pakistan in the 1990’s, could be defined as a decade of political failure with many political governments coming and going in rapid succession. The relationship between the army and the civil governments remained uneasy and the economic performance also deteriorated. Moreover, Pakistan was also sanctioned because of nuclear tests which had to be conducted in response to the Indian nuclear tests.

RELATIONS WITH NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES

Pakistan has a good and stable relationship with its neighbors including Iran. There had been some conflict of interest with Iran over Afghanistan and due to the sectarian environment in Pakistan but Pakistan has worked to maintain good foreign and trade relations with Iran. China has been a supporter of Pakistan for long, there is no cultural clash between the two countries and both follow a policy of non- interference in each other’s internal matters. Pakistan is striving for a stable Afghanistan along with the US. President Karzai visited Pakistan recently and the relationship between the two countries has reached a stage where minor technical hiccups no longer create any major crisis. Pakistan is assisting Afghanistan in every way and is helping it to create conditions in which the 2.5 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan could safely return to their country. The reports that Taliban are regrouping in Balochistan and running operations from southern Afghanistan are not true because many Taliban were eliminated in the earlier Tora Bora operation. A stable Afghanistan is of vital importance to Pakistan and it could not be a part of any plan to destabilize Afghanistan. Pakistan’s relationship with Central Asia particularly trade relations are growing as Afghanistan continues to stabilize. As far as Pakistan-Saudi Arabia relations are concerned they have always been excellent.

PAKISTAN-INDIA RELATIONS

Pakistan-India relations have continually improved in the recent years. There has been a ceasefire on the Line of Control for the last two years which underlines Pakistan’s desire to resolve the Kashmir conflict. We have an institutionalized dialogue process with India, trade has improved, sports events have taken place and travel has been facilitated. If both countries continue on the path towards peace there is a future for this relationship and hope for resolving the conflicts.

PAKISTAN-US RELATIONS

The visit of President Bush to Pakistan is a very significant event which would set a definite tone for the future US engagement with countries of this region. There had been some concerns in the past about US-India relations but that phase is over and there is now an understanding that the US has been working hard to evolve independent and separate relations with India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and countries of Central Asia in the past few years. Some concerns were also expressed about Pakistan in the US which is sometimes tactical and sometimes these are attempts to create an impression that the relationship is not robust and would not survive beyond the war on terror. Contrary to this impression, post 9/11 Pakistan-US relationship has improved and become multifaceted with strategic dimensions. The economic relationship with the US is the most important aspect for Pakistan and the two countries are co-operating in social, economic, education, infrastructure, and energy sectors.

DOMESTIC/INTERNAL SITUATION OF PAKISTAN

Pakistan is trying to transit out of a period of political and economic turmoil and the most important development in the recent past has been the economic turn around. Pakistan achieved a growth rate of 8.4%, last year and the stock exchange is buoyant. The main challenge now is to maintain the momentum to ensure that benefits of this economic prosperity could trickle down to the common man for large scale poverty alleviation. A lot would depend in the coming years on both the internal and external situations and also on the law and order. Pakistan is located in the middle of energy and trade corridors of the future and the stakes are very high for Pakistan to succeed.

Waziristan, had become a natural sanctuary for people running from Afghanistan but it is important to understand that the situation there is well contained and due to the collaboration of Pakistani, US and Afghan security forces it is impossible for terrorists to communicate and to plan worldwide events form there.

Pakistan has received a tremendous response on the earthquake disaster from the world community and particularly from its friends such as the US. Relief and rehabilitation phase in the affected areas would continue for long due to the terrain, magnitude of the disaster and the number of people it has affected. Fears about militant organizations operating freely in the earthquake affected areas are not true and there are no hidden camps there. Moreover, as Pakistan moves into rehabilitation phase, the freedom that had been given to some of those groups in the earlier days of the tragedy would also be reviewed.

I thank you all for your patience and your interest in today’s discussion.

Washington-Feb 27, 2006