“Unpresidential” was one of the many labels assigned to Donald Trump over his election trail. His debates and knowledge of foreign policy issues too did very little to inspire confidence in his abilities as president. Yet, the results came as a surprise to almost everybody across America and the world. But the ‘Trump’ card is now on the table and both the Americans and the world waits with bated breath for the ‘Donald Doctrine’ and his approach to many challenging issues, particularly with regard to his foreign policy.
What will be the new president’s approach to the issues confronting South Asia, and, in particular, his approach to relations with Pakistan. Over the decades since 1947, the nature of this relationship has emerged as a ‘transactional’ one based on the priorities of the national interest of both the countries. The case of Raymond Davis, Abbottabad and Salala notwithstanding, both countries have now embarked upon a relationship under the rubric of rejuvenated Strategic Dialogue that seeks to diversify the nature of mutual interaction away from security oriented approach to one based on non-traditional cooperation in a number of fields including education, energy, trade and scientific cooperation.
