Daily Times editorial Aug 3, 2013

A fresh beginning? US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit has yielded some hope of better Pak-US relations while leaving some questions unanswered or only dealt with ‘diplomatically’. Mr Kerry is the senior most official to visit Pakistan after the new US administration and the new elected government in Pakistan took office. Naturally, given the turmoil-filled state of relations over the last two years, the two sides had a full agenda for discussion and some vexed issues to sort out. Mr Kerry brings a great deal of goodwill for him personally as a friend of Pakistan and a man steeped in international affairs during a long career in the Senate. He is also remembered as the mover and shaker of the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act to come to Pakistan’s aid. Given all these credentials, his task was nevertheless never going to be easy, given the history (especially recently) of mutual mistrust and suspicion between the two countries, rooted in ‘irritants’ such as cross-border militancy, the Raymond Davis affair, Salala check post tragedy, Osama bin Laden raid, etc. Nevertheless, what seemed to have transpired during Mr Kerry’s meetings with the foreign office, prime minister and COAS (including the ISI chief) was a clearer expression of the intent to forge a ‘full partnership’ (not just a transactional relationship in the context of one issue or even Afghanistan), and restart the Strategic Dialogue stalled since October 2010. No one is pretending the going will be anything but tough. Pakistan has of late become more vocal in opposition to US drone strikes on its territory, a complaint Mr Kerry met by reminding his hosts that it was al Qaeda and others of their ilk who were violating Pakistani sovereignty by using Pakistani soil for their terrorist agendas. Kerry also linked the stoppage of drone attacks (which he tantalisingly promised may well be “very soon”) with the eradication of safe havens on Pakistani soil for the terrorists that were attacking the US and the world and whose offshoots were crippling Pakistan too with their unrelenting terrorist actions. In fact, in the joint press conference after the parleys, the prime minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz revealed the change in thinking of the ruling party after taking office less than two months ago and being subjected to a spate of attacks since. Aziz said dialogue would no longer be the only option for dealing with the terrorists (as the PML-N iterated during its election campaign) but that talks would go hand in hand with military action. It may even be argued that without the latter, no talks have any chance of even starting, let alone being successful. The two sides agreed to promote the revival of negotiations with the Afghan Taliban in Doha in order to ensure an orderly withdrawal of the US/NATO forces next year and leave behind a peaceful Afghanistan, so critical for that country itself as well as for Pakistan and indeed the whole region and the world at large. Kerry graciously extended an invitation to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to visit Washington for talks with President Obama. This visit will probably be tied up with the prime minister’s trip to New York for the fall UN session. While the prime minister expressed his desire for Pakistan to be given greater access to the US market to boost its exports to that country to $ 11 billion, along with cooperation in the fields of energy (ongoing and committed to by Washington), the economy and the social sector, President Asif Ali Zardari has come out with the idea of the US leading an international effort to frame a 'Marshall Plan’ for the recovery, rehabilitation, consolidation and development of Pakistan’s state and society. The idea and its name appear visionary, although it is not certain that the same will exists amongst the potential donors for such a Plan as was in evidence regarding the reconstruction of Europe after WWII. Nevertheless, there is little doubt that the proposal has hit the nail on the head if Pakistan and the region are to overcome the legacy of terrorism, energy deficits and a stuttering eco the path of a brighter, more prosperous future.