JOIN USA deep trust deficit between the US and Pakistan is evident from the US embassy cables disclosed by WikiLeaks. In its public assurances Washington has been saying that it has built a strong and supportive partnership with the Pakistan government and that the two are working well in fighting terrorism. But the leaked cables reveal a different story: the partnership isn’t working quite that well. The US’ extension of billions of dollars of financial and other aid to Pakistan has not secured it the latter’s co-operation in the war against terrorism. US diplomats and spies believe that the Pakistan army and the ISI continue to support the Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani and Hekmatyar networks as well as the Lashkar-e-Toiba. While this might not be news to Indians - India has been drawing attention to the infrastructure of terrorism that continues to be nurtured and supported by the Pakistan military – it is evident from the cables that American diplomats are admitting in private what India has been saying in public.
Some analysts argue that since there is nothing dramatically new in the WikiLeaks disclosures on Pakistan it will not fundamentally alter US-Pakistan relations. This perception is flawed. Cables have revealed that Washington made an unsuccessful attempt at removing highly enriched uranium from Pakistan last year. This revelation is bound to be used by extremist sections to fuel anti-US sentiment. They will interpret Washington’s attempt to remove nuclear material from Pakistan as aimed at denying the country nuclear weapons and emasculating it. Thus opposition to US presence in Pakistan is bound to grow in the coming months.
India, which has long complained about Washington’s proximity to Pakistan, should in fact be worried over their fragile relations for it means that even the US is not in a position to get the military to mend its ways. If public opinion against the US mounts, it will be all the more difficult for the US to get Pakistan to act against terrorist outfits. Anti-US sentiment could manifest itself in mass protests and unrest, shaking the already fragile control that Pakistan’s civilian government wields over the country. In the past, weak regimes have turned to military adventurism vis-à-vis India. The fallout of the WikiLeaks has serious implications not just for US-Pakistan relations but for the entire region.