- The USA sends a positive signal
The USA’s resumption of Pakistan’s participation in its Military Education and Training Programme is not just a signal, but has intrinsic value. The suspension of this programme was considered one of the USA’s most significant steps, because this is the programme through which Pakistani midcareer officers attend US military training institutions. Since its suspension in 2018, along with other security aid programmes worth $2 billion, Pakistani officers have been unable to obtain training in the USA.
Apart from its intrinsic value, in the re-opening of opportunities for the military leaders of the future, the resumption also signals an US desire to re-engage with Pakistan. While the suspension was over the allegation that Pakistan was assisting the Taliban, whose insurgency was taking the lives of US troops, the resumption can be seen as a US recognition of the Pakistani role in facilitating both the original US talks with the Taliban, and the recent resumption of those talks after President Donald Trump suspended them. There is also the recent US visit by Prime Minister Imran Khan, and some of the credit should go to his successful meeting with President Trump, but a clearer signal was the visit of COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa to the Pentagon, where he was accorded a very warm welcome.
However, while the Pakistani armed forces may be enthused by the reopening of opportunity that the resumption represents, the government would find itself better served if the various joint economic programmes and understandings were followed through. Pakistan has too much experience of being used by the USA when it is needed, and then discarded, to deal with the resulting mess. That was its experience when it backed the USA in Afghanistan against the USSR. The most binding ties are not those forged between the two militaries, but economic links, which have been limited to the US commitment to send trade delegations in the coming year. Pakistan would also require US support in the FATF to be taken off its grey list. The USA has so far focused on the military in reviving relations, even though the help it has sought has been essentially diplomatic. The government must ensure that the interest of the entire nation is kept paramount, not just one section of it.
