Pakistani Government, Military Wary of US Overtures, The Washington Post, 25 January 2010
EXCERPT: "Despite a string of high-profile visits designed to reassure Pakistan of Washington's commitment, U.S. officials have failed to win over a military and civilian establishment here that remains suspicious of U.S. ties to India and reluctant to plunge into war with Afghan militants who may outlast the U.S. presence. Differences between the two partners could cause problems at the international conference on Afghanistan that opens Thursday in London, which will be attended by 60 countries. President Obama has called Pakistan crucial to the success of the new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. In a visit here last week that included speeches and interviews on local television, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates declared repeatedly that the United States respects Pakistani sovereignty, regrets having curtailed military ties with Islamabad after the end of the Afghan-Soviet war in 1989 and has no desire to open military bases here or seize control of Pakistan's nuclear assets. Gates also offered to provide Pakistan with unarmed, unmanned surveillance planes. Nevertheless, the responses he received from the army and the press here were either skeptical or defiant... 'Many people here feel Pakistan and the U.S. cannot be strategic partners, that this is only a marriage of convenience. They are in the same bed but they have different dreams,' said Rifaat Hussain, a professor of defense and security studies at Quaid-I-Azam University in Islamabad."
Read the full story.
Related articles:
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