It would be a mistake for the talks between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to be limited to the delicate issue of the US using drones to assassinate terrorist leaders. The ties between the US and Pakistan were taken close to breaking point when Al Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden was killed in a US raid in northwest Pakistan. The operation was carried out by the Americans without the knowledge or approval of the Pakistanis. An important part of Kerry’s visit will be to reassure the Pakistanis that they can trust the Americans and that they can work together.
Kerry will not be able to make much headway on the issue of drones even if it is a major irritant and has done more to mobilise anti-American feeling than almost anything else. Unfortunately, President Barack Obama has backed the drone attacks, and the American military establishment sees them as a valuable addition to their arsenal. Obama has said the strikes were part of a legitimate campaign against terrorism, although he pledged more transparency and stricter targeting rules.
Therefore Kerry is expected to refuse Sharif’s demands to end such attacks. He has said that the attacks violate Pakistan’s country’s sovereignty, but sadly it is hard to know if Sharif is being genuine when he makes his public statements against drones. It may very well be that he will agree in private with the Americans to continue the attacks, maybe more carefully, since the Americans and he do not want the terrorists to prosper.
So Kerry will have to make joint plans with Sharif on how to manage the effects on regional security of the American-led Nato withdrawal from Afghanistan next year. But it is important that the two politicians also focus on Pakistan’s desperate economic situation, and find ways to improve trade and stabilise the economy. It would be a mistake for the miserable security situation to force other more constructive topics off the agenda.
