The United States and Pakistan have reached an agreement to reopen the U.S. military’s supply line into Afghanistan. The lengthy standoff, which began after the accidental U.S. killing of a twenty-four Pakistani military personnel last fall, was finally resolved by an expression of regret.
Despite this official breakthrough, Washington is hated more than ever by the Pakistani people. And it is not clear that Islamabad can forever ignore popular sentiments in working with the U.S. government.
America’s relationship with Pakistan long has been based on crass realpolitik. During the Cold War, Washington worked with Islamic dictators in Pakistan to counterbalance democratic India, which was friendly with the Soviet Union. Even during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, the Nixon administration tilted toward Pakistan despite Islamabad’s atrocities against its own people in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
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