For over six decades, the United States and Pakistan have suffered through a tormented and often tumultuous relationship, one defined at its apex by wartime alliance and at its nadir by stiff U.S. sanctions. In many ways, the period since 9/11 has mirrored that longer history, with expectations inflated and dashed, overblown rhetoric, and in the end, more frustration than satisfaction.
That frustration is now rekindling a congressional debate over U.S. assistance and arms sales to Pakistan that, if managed smartly, has the potential to set U.S. policy on a more effective and politically sustainable trajectory for at least the next several years. Managed poorly, the debate could send the U.S.-Pakistan relationship back into a period of estrangement in ways that would do little to advance U.S. goals and could quickly make a bad situation worse.
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