The world needs a stable Pakistan

After years of animosity, President Barack Obama
and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif are signalling that the future of this relationship may be more constructive than what the world has seen.
During his recent state visit to Washington this past week, Sharif bought with him ministers responsible for rebuilding Pakistan’s economy. It underlines what the country needs.
But Sharif was wise enough to suggest that what he wants and what he gets may not necessarily be the same thing. By acknowledging that economic growth will not come about without security, the Pakistan prime minister was also talking to his people, particularly the military, who have yet to come to terms with this notion of civilian supremacy.
Yes, Sharif is stronger, politically speaking, than the previous prime minister. But whether he is strong enough to push the soldiers back to the barracks is the question that needs to be asked.
Besides linking development
to security, Sharif and Obama
know very well that there will be
no security for Pakistan unless
there is peace inside Afghanistan. Sharif has held separate talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
But there is a great deal of certainty in the air. US troops will
be pulling out of Afghanistan,
which means Pakistan needs to do more to bring about stability in the region.
Sharif could work with India to reduce or end the cross-border skirmishes in Kashmir and clamp down on the Afghan Taleban, reportedly, a secret ally of the Pakistani army. No one ever said solving Pakistan’s problem would be easy.
Sharif has spoken out against US drone strikes inside Pakistani territory on humanitarians ground. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented civilian casualties and deaths stemming from these attacks.
On the diplomatic front, these attacks remained a source of tension, although the Pakistan military are said to have concurred to these attacks especially if it helps boost their hands against the Pakistani Taleban fighters.
Pakistan became an American ally in the global war against terrorism after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US. Since then the US has poured billions of dollars to maintain this relationship. Most of the money went to support the country’s military.
But all that money didn’t produce a comfortable relationship, partly because Washington wanted more than what Pakistan could provide and partly because Pakistan’s military wanted to keep its options open by maintaining a secret relations with the Afghan Taleban. It’s not certain if the Pakistan military has come to terms with the fact they can’t have it both ways.
Bilateral ties took a nosedive in 2011 after several incidents, including the death of 24 Pakistani soldiers from a Nato bombing raid on a border post. Then there was the US Navy SEAL team that took out Osama Bin Laden, who was living well inside Pakistan.
This past week, Obama has decided to free up US$1.5 billion in aid, suggesting that bilateral ties may be back on track.
The money will go to energy and public works, not military hardware. Let’s hope that the two leaders can build on this small step. A stable Pakistan is good for the US and the world for that matter.