Diplomacy with Pakistan, Can It Be Sustained?

In 2006, now resigned Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf, was seemingly eager to forge a meaningful dialogue of diplomacy with George W. Bush. Will Musharraf’s replacement be as congenial with a United States president who now has one foot stuck in the door on his way to becoming "former” president?

Five years ago, as reported by the White House, Pakistan was one of only three nations that recognized the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Not all that long ago for what has appeared to be and reported to be a rogue nation in the eyes of many.

Military aid in helping to keep terrorism at bay to the tune of $1.5 billion from 2005-2009 handed over by the United States to Pakistan, somehow seems to have fallen to the wayside.

In June 2004, President Bush designated Pakistan as a Major Non-NATO Ally, making Pakistan one of a select group of nations outside of NATO that have the benefit of a variety of military and financial advantages conferred by the United States, as reported by the White House Fact Sheet.

The United States has provided more than $130 million to strengthen education programs for young people and adults over the last four years in Pakistan, yet the literacy rate of women in a nation growing exponentially and is expected to reach 380 million by 2050 according to United Nations projections, still falls below 50 percent.

According to Ron Suskind, in his book, The One Percent Doctrine, Pervez Musharraf gave an unsolicited warning to the late Benazir Bhutto in a phone conversation that took place in the summer of 2007, telling her: “You should understand something… Your security is based on the state of our relationship.” Yet the United States purportedly, had high hopes for Bhutto.

According to FactBox, a new president will be elected within 30 days, for a five-year term in Pakistan.

Who this new president will represent should be the question of the day. Will he or she play nice with the United States? This remains in my thoughts, as I have often wondered how the United States and Pakistan came to forge such a relationship to begin with when still so many questions remain a mystery to the American people.

A “war on terror” has been declared after all, is it not our duty to pursue the one person claimed to be the instigator of the World Trade Center attacks, Osama Bin Laden? Seems to me, Pakistan has a rich history of engaging with terrorists. If our tax dollars are doing anything in Pakistan, should there not be some results?

This dialogue should continue to pique our interests because there is so much more yet to play out in the near future. We should be wondering where and when Iran will enter into this unfolding predicament.

Remember the post in Time Magazine, Iran being paid billions by China and Russia to supply them with nuclear energy? Which the United States vehemently opposed.

With nuclear trade secrets given to India in the recent past by George W. Bush, will tensions over Kashmir come bubbling back to the surface? And what about securing those oil pipe lines to Delhi, will the United States succeed now that Musharraf has stepped down, much to his own dislike? After all the lines must extend the Pakistan border, where terrorists like to hang out we are informed.

Too many unanswered questions, but then the people should be used to that under our current administration. Shouldn't we?