Disappointment and Indifference: Pakistan and The Biden Presidency

Abstract

Disappointment and Indifference:Pakistan and The Biden Presidency Robert M. Hathaway (bio) Over the decades, the up-and-down relationship between Pakistan and the United States has sometimes been likened to a roller coaster ride.1 Others have seen it marked by a succession of "bubble-crash cycles," alternating periods when Pakistani and American interests converged and the two countries found mutually useful ways to work together, punctuated by periods of discord when their fundamental interests seemed to go in different directions.2 Still others, noting the way in which Islamabad and Washington have appeared to be friends and enemies simultaneously, have portrayed the two countries as "frenemies."3 Regardless of the metaphor, Islamabad's ties with the United States in recent years have displayed the same volatility as in earlier periods of their 75-year history. [End Page 1] The elevation of Joe Biden to the American presidency in 2021 initially generated hopes in Pakistan that perhaps the two countries could move beyond the boom-and-bust pattern of the past. Through the first year of Biden's presidency, however, these aspirations never came close to fulfillment. Worse yet in the eyes of many in Pakistan, a new element entered the Pakistan-American equation. To the astonishment of those who had expected something more from Biden, and contrary to the approach pursued by previous U.S. presidents, the attitude toward Pakistan of the new American administration bordered on utter indifference. The Trump Years Donald Trump, who entered the White House in early 2017, did little to alter the roller coaster pattern so characteristic of ties between Pakistan and the United States. The first year of the Trump administration saw the unpredictable American president unleash several exceptionally harsh verbal attacks on Pakistan. Past U.S. administrations had paid Pakistan "billions and billions of dollars at the same time they [Pakistan] are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting" in Afghanistan, Trump declared in August 2017. "That will have to change, and that will change immediately," he threatened. Four months later, Trump launched a New Year's Day Twitter blast at Islamabad. "The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools," the president thundered. "No more!"4 Three days later, the State Department announced the suspension of all U.S. security assistance to Pakistan. In the months that followed, the Trump administration took further steps to ratchet up pressure on Pakistan, most notably by working with allies to place Pakistan on the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) "gray list" of countries with inadequate controls on terrorist financing, a move that could dry up foreign investment and seriously damage an already weak Pakistani economy.5 In November 2018, Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan engaged in an unseemly public spat via Twitter, with Trump again complaining that Pakistan had taken billions [End Page 2] in U.S. assistance while simultaneously housing September 11th mastermind Osama bin Laden and actively working against American efforts to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan. Washington had at last "restored some clarity in our relationship with Pakistan," a White House press spokesman declared. "For the first time we're holding Pakistan accountable for its actions."6 Trump's complaints about Pakistan had not come out of the blue. U.S. frustration with Islamabad had begun almost simultaneously with the resurrection of the U.S.-Pakistan partnership in the weeks after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. As the years passed and U.S. efforts to create a stable democratic government in Afghanistan sputtered, relations with Islamabad worsened. Washington charged that Pakistan provided safe havens and other vital support to the Afghan Taliban and allied groups like the Haqqani network, which had been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks against the Kabul government and its American partners. Pakistan denied the U.S. allegations, insisted it was a faithful partner in the struggle against extremist terror, and declared that Washington was scapegoating Pakistan to avoid facing its own failures in Afghanistan. Yet, despite this unpromising beginning...