Volume 18, No. 6, 2021
An Assessment Of Pakistan’s Balancing Act In The US-Led ‘War On Terror’
Dr. Sadaf Bashir
Abstract
This study assesses Pakistan’s balancing act in the US-led ‘War on Terror.’ Pakistan decided to join the US-led War to secure its core national interests. This decision, however, didn’t reflect a structural change in Pakistan’s policy. Islamabad retained a ‘delicate balancing’ in its relations with Washington and Afghan insurgents. Pakistan provided significant assistance to US-led coalition by targeting Al-Qaeda operatives, combating sectarian outfits and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) yet declining to target Afghan Taliban and Kashmir focused groups to achieve its foreign and security policy objectives. The study argues that the US counterterrorism strategy in Afghanistan, its policy in South Asia and Pakistan’s internal political and security dynamics became the reasons for Islamabad’s growing reluctance to align its strategic objectives with the US policy. Nevertheless, Pakistan faced political, economic and strategic constraints while pursuing to retain this delicate balancing act in the US-led ‘War on Terror.’
Pages: 6839-6852
Keywords: Afghan conflict, AfPak, Counterterrorism, India, South Asia, Taliban.