Why Pakistan and America Can't Stand Each Other—But Can't Step Away
One Trump tweet won’t undo a decades-long twisted alliance.
As long as there is no simple way to square this circle of contradictory strategic expectations, Washington and Islamabad appear doomed to live together for years, if not decades, with the internal contradictions built into their relationship. Each needs the other to attain important immediate goals, even if their grand strategies pertaining to the region diverge in significant ways.
Mohammed Ayoob is senior fellow at the Center for Global Policy in Washington, DC, and University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of International Relations at Michigan State University.
Image: Pakistani soldier Hamed holds a rocket launcher while securing a road in Khar, the main town in Bajaur Agency, located in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the Afghanistan border, March 2, 2010. REUTERS/Adrees Latif