Skip to main content
Support

Salvaging a Troubled Marriage: Lessons for U.S.-Pakistan Relations

Salvaging a Troubled Marriage: Lessons for U.S.-Pakistan Relations
Salvaging a Troubled Marriage: Lessons for U.S.-Pakistan Relations

The new U.S. administration has inherited the challenge of a U.S.-Pakistan relationship in crisis. This policy brief argues that although strategic partnership may be impractical, sustained ties remain essential. Therefore, the White House should frame U.S.-Pakistan relations as a scaled-back but long-term relationship meant to persevere after the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. In refashioning U.S.-Pakistan policy, policymakers should bear in mind three important lessons. First, neither side exerts much influence over the other; second, limited opportunities for cooperation with official Pakistan should be seized; and third, coercive diplomacy has little utility. Instead, the United States should engage Pakistan’s private sector and young, urban middle class—both of which will play a key role in that country’s long-term future.

About the Author

Michael Kugelman

Michael Kugelman

Director, South Asia Institute
Read More

Asia Program

The Asia Program promotes policy debate and intellectual discussions on U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific as well as political, economic, security, and social issues relating to the world’s most populous and economically dynamic region.   Read more