Friends Without Benefits

It's time to say what we already know — America's Pakistan policy isn't working

  • Olivery Munday for TIME

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    Pakistan needs a civilian conception of its national interest. It can get one only from a flourishing civilian government. That was the basic thrust of the memo that Pakistan's former ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, is alleged to have written. Haqqani's ouster is part of a long pattern in which the military has removed anyone who proposed a new course for the country's foreign policy. Recall that the coup that ousted the previous civilian government took place because then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif enraged the military by attempting to make peace with India. In recent days, the military has been building opposition to the effort of President Asif Ali Zardari's government to start trade with India.

    There is a fundamental tension in U.S. policy toward Pakistan. We want a more democratic country, but we also want a government that can deliver cooperation on the ground. In practice, we always choose the latter, which means we cozy up to the military and overlook its destruction of democracy. The only way to get real cooperation is by helping Pakistan move from being a military state to being a more normal country. If Washington continues to bolster Pakistan's de facto regime, we will get a dysfunctional nation where the public--fed propaganda by the military establishment--vents its anger at Washington.

    The Arab Spring holds key lessons. When Washington props up a dictatorship because it needs foreign policy support, it is building up wellsprings of poison and anti-Americanism within society that, one day, will erupt.

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