Pakistan and the United States: Rebalancing the Relationship
January 29, 2008
By Timothy Hoyt
Security in the Age of Terrorism
Pakistan exists in a volatile and strategically important part of the world, home to 25% of the world’s population, two hostile nuclear powers, and a sizeable contingent of violent extremists. America’s interests—and concerns—in Pakistan are many. Following the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the United States should reexamine its policy toward Pakistan in the interest of long-term security.
Too often in recent years, the U.S. relationship with Pakistan has been framed exclusively by the “war on terror.” As a result, policy makers, journalists, and the public have been too quick to view the alternatives there as limited to a choice between military-dictatorship and Islamist revolution.
In Pakistan and the United States: Rebalancing the Relationship, Timothy Hoyt dispels these misconceptions. The danger in Pakistan today is not from an extremist coup, he argues, but the further erosion of Pakistani institutions that provide economic well-being, political participation, the rule of law, and physical security.
Hoyt calls for an approach that harnesses all the tools in America’s arsenal to help the Pakistani government meet this complex set of challenges itself. He offers specific alternatives for U.S. policy makers, from encouraging the Pakistani Army to focus on meeting internal threats to strengthening the capacity of Pakistan’s civilian institutions.
Taking these actions now, Hoyt argues, will preserve a responsive, functioning Pakistani government that in the longer-term that will blunt the appeal of extremists.
Dr. Timothy Hoyt is a Professor of Strategy and Policy at the U.S. Naval War College. He has studied and taught on South Asian Security issues for more than two decades. The views in this article are his own, and not those of the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Naval War College, the Department of Defense or any other U.S. government agency.
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