Pakistan and Obama
Tanya Saira George
MA Student, Department of International Studies, Stella Maris College
While the world tuned in to Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony in the US in the hope that the next few years would mark the beginning of change and a semblance of peace, Pakistanis in general appear to have no expectations from the convention-defying President. In a survey conducted by The News, those interviewed were either deeply inspired by the rhetoric alone, or were too disillusioned to trust and hope for the best.
The Obama presidency is seen as an opportunity, but also a challenge. There are understandably mixed feelings about the new American administration - “the worst-case scenario is that Obama’s warning of unilateral strikes in FATA against high-value terrorist targets is only a precursor to widening the theatre of the Afghan war to include the tribal areas. The best-case scenario is that Vice-President Joseph Biden’s initiative as a senator, the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2008, or the Biden-Lugar bill, is a signal that America will seek to definitively change the transactional, military-based relationship with Pakistan into one that emphasises human development and institution-building. As with all things in politics and foreign policy, the outcome is likely to be somewhere “in between,” says a Dawn editorial.
Three days into Obama’s presidency, the first evidence of his promise to take out “high-value terrorist targets” was seen in the drone attacks in Waziristan. The Pakistan government had expressed hope that the arrival of Obama would see a halt to such strikes, which stir up hostility from the Pakistanis towards the government but to no avail.
Some have urged an “end to the US romance before it destroys” Pakistan. Shireen Mazari says, “The alliance with the US has to go. As for some Pakistanis' excitement over the Obama presidency, we should get real.” Although, Obama has abandoned many of the “war on terror” policies of Bush, he is not retreating from the hunt for Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders in his quest to “forge a hard-earned peace.” Many complain that where Pakistan is concerned, Obama seems as trigger-happy as George W Bush was with regards to Iraq. This tough stance has already ruffled many feathers in Islamabad.
The cutting off of payments for the War on Terror as well as the Obama-Biden move to increase non-military aid to Pakistan, but at the same time hold Islamabad accountable for security along the border region with Afghanistan - a carrot and stick policy - have not found many takers in Pakistan.
President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani have emphasized that the US government under President Obama should deepen engagement in Afghanistan but also show more restraint on Pakistan, and called for a new approach by Obama’s administration. Gilani said, “We have to have a new strategy because in the US and in Pakistan, the people have voted for a change. The change should be visible.”
Zardari urged Obama to recast Pak-US ties saying, “President Obama understands that for Pakistan to defeat the extremists, it must be stable. For democracy to succeed, Pakistan must be economically viable,” Zardari wrote in an article in The Washington Post in which he congratulated the new US leader on assumption of office and extended Pakistan’s “hand in friendship.”
Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Washington, also said that Islamabad “hopes President Obama will be more patient while dealing with Pakistan.” Appealing to the new US administration to “hear us out,” Haqqani said, “We will review all options if Obama does not adopt a positive policy towards us.”
One of the foreign policy successes of the Bush administration was to de-hyphenate its relations with India and Pakistan. Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke’s initial mandate included Kashmir, welcomed by the Pakistanis, but feared in India as Obama’s move to re-hyphenate America’s relations with South Asia’s sullen neighbours. The restriction of the mandate to just Afghanistan and Pakistan later, has raised many eyebrows in Pakistan as it goes against Obama’s endorsement of the “regional approach.”
Ejaz Haider of Daily Times says, “If anything, because the style is going to be different, the Obama administration is likely to ask Pakistan to do more at its end and expect that Islamabad would. The question of how events are likely to unfold for Pakistan will therefore relate more to what Pakistan can deliver.”
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