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Transcript/ScriptUS Pakistan
HEADLINE: Resetting Ties: Pakistan-US Relations After Afghan War
TEASER: As Pakistan mends bonds with Washington after Afghanistan conflict, anti-American rhetoric at home, close ties with Beijing loom large
PUBLISHED: 11/30/22 AT 9:40am
BYLINE: Sarah Zaman
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Washington
VIDEOGRAPHER:
VIDEO EDITOR: Sarah Zaman
SCRIPT EDITORS: Newhouse, MPage
VIDEO SOURCE (S): AFP, Reuters, AP
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _x_ RADIO __
TRT: 3:58
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((INTRO))
[[After playing an outsized role during the nearly two-decade-long U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, Pakistan was not included in the Biden administration’s national security strategy this year. Sarah Zaman looks at how U.S.-Pakistan ties evolved in 2022 and the impact of U.S-China competition on stability in South Asia.]]
((NARRATOR))
This year, Pakistani leaders sought a reset in relations with the U.S.
((Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistani Foreign Minister))
"The relationship between Pakistan and the United States in the past has been too colored by the events in Afghanistan. The geostrategical, geopolitical considerations. And it's time for us to move beyond that."
((NARRATOR))
The end of the 20-year wartime alliance in Afghanistan left Pakistan out of the Biden administration’s national security strategy released in October.
((Abdul Basit, Former Pakistani High Commissioner to India)) ((SKYPE))
“Pakistan being a strategic partner of China, we ((Reuters)) cannot really aspire to become a U.S. strategic partner. Pakistan is very keen to have a mutually beneficial relationship wherever our interests converge.”
((NARRATOR))
Economic troubles, political instability and pervasive anti-Americanism in Pakistan make cooperation challenging.
After he was removed from office in April, former Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the U.S. of conspiring to orchestrate his ouster, a charge that millions of his supporters believe despite denials from Washington.
((Tamanna Salikuddin, US Institute of Peace)) ((SKYPE))
“The rhetoric, the anti-Americanism, when it reaches a very high pitch and the influence it has on Pakistani domestic opinion, makes it very hard for the United States to work very publicly with Pakistan.”
((NARRATOR))
Images of then-Prime Minister Khan meeting President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on the day Russia invaded Ukraine embarrassed Islamabad, but Salikuddin says Russia is not a major factor in U.S.-Pakistan relations.
((Tamanna Salikuddin, US Institute of Peace)) ((SKYPE))
“The deep relationship Pakistan has with China militarily, economically on the energy front is much more a factor in how the U.S.-Pakistan relationship is shaped.”
((NARRATOR))
Many saw engagement with the new government in Islamabad and the
Biden administration’s proposed $450-million maintenance deal for Pakistan’s F-16s as a positive sign.
That plan, however, irked New Delhi, which sees such deals as a threat to its own security. Basit says deepening
U.S.-India relations driven by a desire to counter China also affect Pakistan’s national security.
((Abdul Basit, Former Pakistani High Commissioner to India)) ((SKYPE))
“The cooperation in Quad, the way the U.S. is supplying $20 billion worth of defense equipment to India, then obviously U.S. support to India's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council and then its membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. So, all these things do affect or directly affect our security.”
((NARRATOR))
In October, U.S President Joe Biden’s remark calling Pakistan one of the world's most dangerous countries for having a nuclear arsenal without "cohesion"
was denounced by Islamabad.
((NAT BREAK BILAWAL BHUTTO ZARDARI))
"We meet all, each and every international standard"
((NARRATOR))
The U.S State Department later expressed confidence in Pakistan’s ability to secure its nuclear weapons.
Some also worry Washington’s competition with China might upset the strategic stability between nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India.
((Tamanna Salikuddin, US Institute of Peace)) ((VIA SKYPE))
“You have this cascading security dilemma where Pakistan is looking to India in terms of its weaponry and its strategic balance and India is looking at China and China is looking at the U.S. So, everyone's looking at the next larger country, but there are second and third order effects of that when it comes to crises, especially between India and Pakistan, China and India. And we, the United States, I would argue, need to pay more attention to those.”
((NARRATOR or Standup))
2023 is an election year in Pakistan, when a new government will decide how it wants to engage with the U.S.
Washington insists it has no favorites and will work with whomever the Pakistani people choose as their leader.
(Sarah Zaman, VOA News, Washington.)
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
in Washington D.C.
Embargo DateNovember 30, 2022 18:38 EST
Byline
Sarah Zaman, VOA New
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
