For over six decades, the United States and Pakistan have suffered through a tormented and often tumultuous relationship, one defined at its apex by wartime alliance and at its nadir by stiff U.S. sanctions. In many ways, the period since 9/11 has mirrored that longer history, with expectations inflated and dashed, overblown rhetoric, and in the end, more frustration than satisfaction.
That frustration is now rekindling a congressional debate over U.S. assistance and arms sales to Pakistan that, if managed smartly, has the potential to set U.S. policy on a more effective and politically sustainable trajectory for at least the next several years. Managed poorly, the debate could send the U.S.-Pakistan relationship back into a period of estrangement in ways that would do little to advance U.S. goals and could quickly make a bad situation worse.
“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62
Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.
Subscriber+
