US Transient Policy

US Transient Policy

Realizing that Pakistan is indispensable in its so-called war on terrorism, the US has, for the time being, given up on portraying Pakistan as a 'failed state,' stated Professor Takenori Horimoto, an expert on South Asian Studies from the Shobi Gakuen University, Japan, while speaking at a roundtable “US Policy Toward South Asia” at IPS on December 28.
    Mr. Horimoto said that the US continues to give special attention to the region. It has started dealing with India and Pakistan independently of each other. This, especially in the case of the present neocon Bush administration, is in tandem with the US policy of unilateralism, he noted. It is quite obvious that the US has found that dealing with countries bilaterally is easier than multilaterally.  
    Mr. Akram Zaki, the seminar's chair, in his concluding speech, presented a broad analysis of the US policy toward South Asia. He argued that 'containment' and 'engagement' have been two hallmarks of the US policy toward China in the Clinton era. Now 'containment' has changed into 'encirclement' and 'constructive engagement' transformed to mere 'engagement,' he noted. Terming the US unilateralism and the notion of pre-emption lethal to global peace, he said the current phase of 'warm relations' between the United States and Pakistan is, at best, 'transient'.
    Earlier, the program began with introductory remarks by the IPS Executive Director Khalid Rahman. Participants included diplomats, foreign policy analysts, intellectuals and researchers. For its obsession with the war on terror, the US needs Pakistan. But it is also developing 'warm' relations with India.

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