Seeking Security through Alliances

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the way Pakistan’s relationships with the United States and China figure in its strategic culture. Any frequent visitor to Pakistan will recognize the familiar refrain found in Pakistan’s defense writings. When discussing US-Pakistan relations, the United States is a perfidious ally that uses Pakistan for its strategic ends and then abandons it. In contrast, when discussing Pakistan-China relations, Chia is described as an enduring friend. While Pakistan has other important partners (e.g., Saudi Arabia, North Korea), its professional military publications are generally silent on them. Many scholars believe that the army has developed this rhetorical strategy to exploit US government officials’ relatively short memory of US–Pakistan relations to obtain lucrative rewards like grant assistance, foreign military financing, and weapon systems. This skepticism about Pakistan’s assessments is certainly justified, but most Pakistani military personnel believe this narrative, even if specific individuals have a richer and more evidence-based understanding of US–Pakistan relations generationally and security cooperation specifically.