Rimsha Mukhtar
Coercive diplomacy; “attempts to reverse actions that are already occurring or have been undertaken by an adversary.”(Force and Statecraft, Alexander George) When Al-Qaeda attacked on twin towers in New York the whole international community feel threatened and terrorist organizations were became target of international system. Before 9/11 United States and Pakistan had no good relations with each other and are far away from allies but when U.S become target of Al-Qaeda then it was need of U.S to get help from Pakistan because Al-Qaeda is the terrorist organization of Afghanistan and get protection from Afghan Taliban’s government and due to geographical location of Afghanistan and Pakistan United States badly need help of Pakistan. So in very short time period immediate aftermath of 9/11 U.S made coercive diplomacy with Pakistan. Beforegetting into debate of U.S Pakistan relations after 9/11 it’s necessary to understand the relationship between both states before 9/11.Many states had bilateral relations with U.S and faced many periodic lows and highs curve in their relations with them, Pakistan has many curves in their relationship with U.S but there is immediate shift after 9/11. In 1950’s U.S and Pakistan had very close ties with eachotherand called as “American’s most allied ally” in the Cold War to achieve Soviet expansion. In 1960’s both nations had very bad relations with each other especially after the U.S stance in China India war because both parties are at opposite sides. Relations revived in 1970-71 because Pakistan support U.S to make their Embassy in Beijing but it was of short time period. In 1977 relations of both states again went to low point when U.S Embassy and other information centers burned in Islamabad. In early 1980’s Pakistan again become close ally with U.S following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December of 1979 the U.S become partner of Pakistan in Pakistan’s proxy war in Afghanistan. Despite all these up and downs in both relations but they still remain good relations with each otherbut after 9/11 relationship of both states again went on high level. On the eve of 9/11,U.S and Pakistan relations were extremely low because at that time both nations were had number of issues between them including Pakistan support to Afghan Taliban’s.U.S also imposed number of sanctions on Pakistan under Pressler,Glenn and Symington Amendments and the “Democracy Sanctions” that reduced military and economic aid of Pakistan. U.S also had close diplomatic and strategic relations with India, Pakistan’s biggest enemy in world. Pakistan had very bad domestic situation in this period and the entire above made Pakistan relations shambles with U.S. On September 11, 2001 operators of Al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger airliners two planes were crashed in World Trade Towers third in Pentagon and last one in Pennsylvania field. This attack was considered as the most dangerous terrorist attack in world because after this attack operations started immediately against terrorist organizations. As its obvious Al-Qaeda challenges the sovereignty of great powerso in response U.S stated War on Terror against Afghan Taliban’s. Afghanistan is landlocked state; U.S needed airspace, bases and logistical help from neighboring states to conduct the operation. U.S starts dealings with states like Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to help them in invasion of Afghanistan beside all these it’s quite necessary for U.S to make ally with Pakistan because U.S military forces are using the route of Indian Ocean. Pakistan and Iran are only two nations that are bordering both Indian Ocean and Afghanistan but Iran was not supporting U.S so it’s necessary for U.S to gain support from Pakistan, then Bush administration developed coercive diplomacy with Pakistan. Pakistan supports of U.S in War on Terror in Afghanistan will also help Pakistan. On 22 September, the U.S. lifted the economic and military sanctions that had been imposed against Pakistan under the Pressler, Glenn, and Symington Amendments and Section 508 of the Foreign Assistance Act. All were waived by Bush under the authority of Brownback II The official diplomacy was conducted through multiple channels. In Pakistan, the U.S Ambassador, Wendy Chamberlain, was responsible for most of the negotiations with President Musharraf and the government of Pakistan. In Washington, the U.S. government primarily interacted with the Pakistani Embassy. Finally the negotiations were characterized by several phone calls between President Bush or Secretary of State Colin Powell and President Musharraf. The U.S., through all three methods described above, made it clear to Pakistan that it wanted intelligence support, the use of Pakistan’s airspace, and logistical support. Although the U.S never directly threatened the use of force, U.S. officials threatened to add Pakistan to a State Department list of seven terrorist-sponsoring nations which would portend the possibility of U.S. force. According to one high-ranking official at U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, President Musharraf was told to either abandon support of Taliban or be prepared to be treated like the Taliban. In Washington the diplomacy was being conducted primarily between Deputy Secretaryof State Richard Armitage and the Pakistan Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi and his ISI chiefMahmoud Ahmed. They met on a daily basis starting on 12 September and during the initialmeetings, Armitage presented the U.S. list of demands which included the full use of airspace,Pakistan’s closing its borders with Afghanistan, and use of its territory as a staging base. InIslamabad, Ambassador Chamberlain was presenting the same demands.The U.S. achieved Pakistan’s full support following 9/11 because it successfullyincorporated the five major components of coercive diplomacy: it conveyed an asymmetry ofmotivation, it narrowly defined what it demanded and clearly transmitted this demand, itpresented a credible threat, it offered carrots as well as sticks and it ensured that Pakistanunderstood the urgency for a quick decision. Despite this success and many of the positive lessons of diplomacy that weredemonstrated, it should be with caution that this same strategy would lead tosuccess anywhere or anytime. The U.S. used more or less the same coercive diplomacy with theTaliban (though arguably with less carrots) and the Taliban chose war over agreement. Also, theU.S. and Pakistan have a history of an on-again off-again relationship, so the U.S. and Pakistanonly had to dust off their play book from 1980 rather than develop a completely new strategy.-
