Five myths about Pakistan
1.Pakistan is a U.S. ally in the war on terrorism.
Pakistan pursues only its national interests — or whatever its military high command decides is in the county’s national interests. The security establishment likes to work with the United States when possible and certainly likes receiving U.S. aid, but its perception of Pakistan’s interests always comes first.
During the Cold War, Washington considered Pakistan an ally against the Soviet Union. Under President Ayub Khan in the 1960s and President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq in the 1980s, the United States gave Pakistan substantial aid — $3.2 billion in a five-year package in the early ’80s, or about $8 billion in 2011 dollars. Yet, Pakistan followed its own path. When Ayub went to war with India in 1965 and Pakistan launched its savage crackdown in East Bengal in 1971, Washington wasn’t consulted.