By Michael Kugelman
A visit by Pakistan’s army chief underlines the unique and often troubled relationship between Washington and Rawalpindi.
Quick: Identify the civilian democracy that sends its army chief — not its president or prime minister — to the United States for a full week of high-level meetings with civilian and military officials.
The answer is Pakistan, a country that has experienced military rule for half its existence, and where the military remains, bar none, the country’s most powerful institution. It plays a key role in politics, lords over a vast economic empire, and enjoys disproportionate shares of the national budget. It is also heavily engaged by Washington, even as the U.S. government has taken admirable steps — including passage of a five-year civilian assistance package — to deepen its relationship with Pakistan’s democratically elected government. Rare is the time when a senior U.S. civilian official visits Pakistan and fails to call on a top military leader.
General Raheel Sharif, who is currently wrapping up a week-long trip in Washington, was appointed army chief a year ago — to the surprise of many, given that he was chosen over two more senior candidates. Sharif’s previous affiliation was as the Army’s inspector general for training. He is not, as newspaper articles repeatedly make clear, related to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (however, he reportedly has close ties to one of the premier’s chief confidants).
Sharif’s arrival in the United States came just days after media reports divulged that Robin Raphel — a senior U.S. diplomat and Pakistan specialist with close ties to Islamabad — is under federal investigation. And it came on the heels of the release of a Pentagon report (PDF) alleging, not for the first time, that the Pakistani state uses militant proxies (read: the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network) to undercut New Delhi’s presence in Afghanistan. Of course, such proxies also target U.S. forces and interests in Afghanistan.
Against this delicate backdrop, Raheel Sharif has actually been in Washington during a relatively calm period for the volatile U.S.-Pakistan military relationship. And it’s easy to understand why: He has largely been saying what Washington wants to hear, and — to a lesser extent — doing what Washington wants him to do.
Read the full story at The Diplomat