Afghanistan: A Policy Reversal Factor in Pakistan-United States Relations (1980-2014)

Pakistan-US relationship is considered to be inspired by Pakistan's intrinsic geo-strategic position. All the four states sharing frontiers with Pakistan are hosts of multifaceted US interests. To the north of Pakistan lies the People's Republic of China, an emerging global power to whom the US wants to contain through leveraging strategic convergence with Pakistan's eastern neighbor, India, a regional hegemon and Pakistan's longstanding rival. Iran, the Southwestern neighbor of Pakistan, is also on the radar of the US due to its nuclear program and growing influence in the Middle East. Nonetheless, Pakistan's proximity to China, India, and Iran has various implications for Pakistan-US relations. However, the "Afghanistan factor with its magical make-or-break capacity" stands out as the 'policy reversing' factor in Pakistan-US relations. Since the 1980s, the 'Afghanistan factor' has positively or negatively impacted Pakistan-US relations and prompted a shift in Washington's and Islamabad's policies. The prime ace of the study is to analyze Afghanistan's role in shaping Pakistan's foreign policy towards the US and vice versa and to explore the shared interests of Pakistan and the US in Afghanistan, which allow the "Afghanistan factor" to bearings upon Pakistan-US relations. While employing qualitative research design and functioning rational choice theory, this study attempts to analyze and uncover the underlying patterns, strategic calculations and decision-making processes that drove the interactions between Pakistan and the United States due to the Afghanistan factor in the 1980s and 1st decade of the 21st century.