US-Pakistan Relations: Pakistan's Strategic Choices in the 1990s / Edition 1

by Talat Farooq

Overview

US foreign policy-making from the end of the Cold War to after 2001 is crucial to understanding the years of strong US engagement with Pakistan that would follow 9/11. This book explains Pakistan’s strategic choices in the 1990s by examining the role of the United States in the shaping of Islamabad’s security goals.

Drawing upon a diverse range of oral history interviews as well as available written sources, the book explains the American contribution to Pakistani security objectives during the presidency of Bill Clinton (1993-2001). The author investigates and explains the dynamics which drove Islamabad’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, its support for the Taliban and its approach towards the indigenous uprising in Indian Kashmir. She argues that Clinton’s foreign policy contributed to the hardening of Islamabad’s security perspectives, creating space for the Pakistani military establishment to pursue its regional security goals. The book also discusses the argument that US-Pakistan relations during this period were driven by a Cold War mindset, causing a fissure between US global and Pakistan’s regional security goals. The Pakistani military and civilian leadership utilized these divergent and convergent trends to protect Islamabad’s India-centric strategic interests.

The book addresses a gap in the relevant literature and moves beyond the available mono-causal explanations often distorted by a mixture of intellectual obfuscation and political rhetoric. It adds a Pakistani perspective and is a valuable contribution to the study of US-Pakistan relations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138952676
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/04/2016
Series:	Routledge Studies in South Asian Politics
Pages:	196
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Talat Farooq is a Research Associate in the Institute of Conflict, Cooperation and Security in the School of Government and Society at the University of Birmingham, UK.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. The US-Pakistan Cold War Alliance: A Historical Perspective

2. Out in the Cold: Immediate Post-Cold War Catalysts (1989-1993)

3. Clinton’s Foreign Policy and Pakistan: Reinforcing Catalysts

4. Coping Mechanisms: Pakistan’s Response to Clinton’s Foreign Policy

Conclusion