Pakistan’s new civilian government is already under attack by the forces of recently removed prime minister Imran Khan, who is pushing the conspiracy theory that President Biden somehow orchestrated his ouster. Last week, the country’s new foreign minister came to the United States to explore yet another attempt to repair the U.S.-Pakistan alliance, which might look unsalvageable. Washington should hear him out.
Leaders in both U.S. political parties have largely written off Pakistan. Yet it is a major non-NATO ally, the world’s fifth-most-populous country and a nuclear power situated strategically among China, India, Afghanistan and Iran. After years of mutual distrust between Washington and Islamabad, there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of the idea that either side is capable — much less willing — to do the hard work of reviving the alliance.
But the basic argument for trying again is sound. And Pakistan’s new foreign minister, the son of two previous Pakistani leaders, believes that both nations can learn from the mistakes of the past. Besides, he told me, letting the alliance further deteriorate makes little sense.
“The way in which this relationship progressed in recent years doesn’t serve the interests of the people of Pakistan, but it also doesn’t serve the interests of the people of America,” Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told me in an interview. “And I still believe that Pakistan and the United States agree on far more than we disagree on.”
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