Looking Back, Looking Forward: Assessing the US-Pakistan Relationship

Nearly three years after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the US-Pakistan relationship remains in a state of uncertainty. The relationship is largely crisis-free, but still in search of new spaces for cooperation. It’s also struggling to find its place in a world consumed by intensifying great power competition, conflict in Ukraine and Gaza, and growing instability in the Middle East. Still, despite all this, the relationship has seen increased engagement of late in areas ranging from climate change to counterterrorism.

This half-day conference took stock of US-Pakistan relations, drawing on the views of senior officials, a group of former US ambassadors to Pakistan, journalists, scholars, business leaders, and Pakistan diaspora figures. It reflected on how past experiences can help guide US policymakers working on the relationship today, and examined prospects for future cooperation—and how to get there.

This conference was organized by the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute in partnership with International Academy of Letters USA, a nonprofit organization that aims to promote cooperation through dialogue, the arts, and diplomacy.