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So why is Pakistan a “major non NATO ally” of the US? Why was it ever? Pakistan has been a breeding ground for terrorist groups for decades, including giving a

So why is Pakistan a “major non NATO ally” of the US? Why was it ever? Pakistan has been a breeding ground for terrorist groups for decades, including giving a safe place for the Taliban to rebuild. In the last couple years it also has looked a lot like a failed state, and it is dangerous for any controlling government of Pakistan to have this capability. This alliance also undermines what could be a much more valuable relationship with India.

bell-cot 2y ago
> So why is Pakistan... Because the US Gov't is cataclysmically incompetent at foreign policy, and has been for well over a century.
alephnerd 2y ago
> So why is Pakistan a “major non NATO ally” GWOT. The US needed Karachi Port and the GTR to manage logistics into Afghanistan as well as the support of Pakistan to crack down on the Taliban's supply chain. > This alliance also undermines what could be a much more valuable relationship with India. The US-Pakistan alliance been dead in the water since the 2010s. Imran Khan's PTI came to power due to popular resentment to the US in Khyber Pakhtunkwa (drone strikes, using polio vaccine drives as cover, and Bin Laden being in Abbotabad didn't help), and until recently most governments in Pakistan depended on the pro-Taliban JuI as a coalition partner. ------------ It's a sad story of mutual misalignment caused by elite power politics mixed with shabby populism within Pakistan, and neglect veering on disdain of South Asia by the United States. The UAE and KSA have played a much better hand an normalizing relations between Pakistan and India than the US ever had. Personally, I interpret this announcement as an olive branch by the US after India-US relations took a nosedive recently due to the Adani scandal. Much of Pakistan's Ballistics Missle work has been on trying to build third strike capabilities to check India, who built those capabilities to check China, who built those capabilities to check the US. By slowing down third strike capabilities, the US is aligning with a key Indian foreign policy goal - the prevention of a two-front war. Ironically, Trump would be good for India in that regard, as his transactional stance and close business and political ties with traditional Indian allies means it's an easier relation to manage. Probably a mixed bag for Pakistan, but if they are able to manage a detente with the UAE and KSA and tamp down on Chinese influence (unlikely), then they might get out of the dog house w/ regards to US relations.

bell-cot 2y ago

> So why is Pakistan... Because the US Gov't is cataclysmically incompetent at foreign policy, and has been for well over a century.

alephnerd 2y ago

> So why is Pakistan a “major non NATO ally” GWOT. The US needed Karachi Port and the GTR to manage logistics into Afghanistan as well as the support of Pakistan to crack down on the Taliban's supply chain. > This alliance also undermines what could be a much more valuable relationship with India. The US-Pakistan alliance been dead in the water since the 2010s. Imran Khan's PTI came to power due to popular resentment to the US in Khyber Pakhtunkwa (drone strikes, using polio vaccine drives as cover, and Bin Laden being in Abbotabad didn't help), and until recently most governments in Pakistan depended on the pro-Taliban JuI as a coalition partner. ------------ It's a sad story of mutual misalignment caused by elite power politics mixed with shabby populism within Pakistan, and neglect veering on disdain of South Asia by the United States. The UAE and KSA have played a much better hand an normalizing relations between Pakistan and India than the US ever had. Personally, I interpret this announcement as an olive branch by the US after India-US relations took a nosedive recently due to the Adani scandal. Much of Pakistan's Ballistics Missle work has been on trying to build third strike capabilities to check India, who built those capabilities to check China, who built those capabilities to check the US. By slowing down third strike capabilities, the US is aligning with a key Indian foreign policy goal - the prevention of a two-front war. Ironically, Trump would be good for India in that regard, as his transactional stance and close business and political ties with traditional Indian allies means it's an easier relation to manage. Probably a mixed bag for Pakistan, but if they are able to manage a detente with the UAE and KSA and tamp down on Chinese influence (unlikely), then they might get out of the dog house w/ regards to US relations.