The Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad (ISSI) organised an In-House meeting on April 19, 2016 with Dr. Christophe Jafferlot, Senior Research Fellow at the National Centre for Scientific Research, Paris. The Chairman Board of Governors, Ambassador Khalid Mahmood warmly welcomed the guest speaker. Ambassador Khalid opened the floor by stating that Pakistan and the US share an odd history, the two have remained the best of allies and have frequently fallen apart. There are discordant voices in the policy circles; President Obama in an interview recently questioned the US alliance with Pakistan. On the other hand, the recent visit by the Prime Minister of Pakistan to the US sensed a different tone. US shared its desire to broaden its relations with Pakistan beyond the security paradigm, which has been a characteristic of Pakistan and US relations.
Dr. Jafferlot began by saying that Pakistan and US have shared a torturous relationship with ups and downs in the last seven decades, however, the dilemma of this relationship has reached the end of its periodic cycle; a pattern that was set as early as the 50’s. The security-driven relationship between Pakistan and US which can be best describe as the security-driven form of clientalism, is now exhausted. While clientalism does not belong to the International Relations study, it very clearly defines the nature of relationship between Pakistan and US. It describes the relationship of dependence based on exchanges of favours between two entities, and is asymmetric in nature.
