President Pervez Musharraf, Saudi FM Prince Saud Al-Faisal (AP)
"Tensions inside of Pakistan will continue to brew and as they do, the U.S. would do well to watch, work with, and learn from pragmatic Middle East leaders working behind the scenes to keep these tensions from boiling over."Watching the sun set on Karachi and hearing the call to prayer echo across the horizon, I see more textures and unexplored opportunities on U.S. policy toward Pakistan and the Middle East from this crowded city in southern Pakistan than I did few short days ago in Washington.
The religious and cultural ties between Pakistan and the Middle East are on full display at Karachi International Airport. Pakistanis line up outside the terminal en masse to fly to Mecca, Saudi Arabia to participate in the annual hajj, or pilgrimage. Karachi is also the main port city and financial capital of Pakistan, at a strategic crossroads between the Far East and the Middle East. Just a short two-hour flight to most Gulf Arab countries, its geographic proximity fosters economic ties, and yet it is also one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Driving from the airport, we take the route on which 150 were killed when turning out for the homecoming parade for former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Serious concerns about providing safe haven for international terrorists in the lawless border regions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and domestic political turmoil including the imposition of emergency law by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, have led some U.S. leaders to ask tough and legitimate questions about the present bilateral U.S.-Pakistan relationship. Much of this debate is framed within the context of internal dynamics in Pakistan and Pakistan’s impact on the international efforts in neighboring Afghanistan. At times, the discussions also touch upon Pakistan’s troubled relationship with India, a rising global power.
Only rarely does the debate over U.S. policy on Pakistan focus on the linkages it has to the Middle East, another critical region. Sitting in Karachi, it is clear to me that it serves U.S. interests to take better account of the key role that Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and neighboring Iran play in Pakistan, and, in turn, to account for the influence that Pakistan brings to bear in the Middle East. Appreciating these dual weight-bearing factors should advance United States strategy on all fronts.
The immediate connections between Pakistan and the Middle East are well known and quite frequently negative. For decades, extremist terrorist groups based in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan received funding from the Arab Gulf. Gulf funding for religious schools, or madrassas, throughout Pakistan is a commonly referenced aspect of the relations. More recently, tensions between Sunnis and Shi’a in Pakistan have mirrored similar growing sectarian tensions in Iraq and the Middle East, with some observers blaming Iran and Saudi Arabia for fomenting recent sectarian violence within Pakistan.
The close defense and security relationships between Pakistan and the Middle East are well known, too – with Saudi financial support helping Pakistan after the United States and other countries imposed economic sanctions in the wake of the 1998 testing of Pakistan’s nuclear weapon. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, spent decades building a network that resulted in the transfer of nuclear technologies to Libya and Iran, and possibly others. All of these linkages have been crucial in shaping events inside of Pakistan and key Middle Eastern countries, and taking them into account is important in crafting new approaches on all fronts.
The Middle East and Pakistan links are not all invidious, however. Economic ties between Pakistan and the Middle East represent one area of opportunity for constructive growth that benefits the prosperity of more and more people and can be leveraged for benefit beyond the immediate regions. An estimated three million Pakistanis currently work in Gulf States, providing these countries with a source of labor and giving the workers a source of income that is sent back to their families in remittances. Unprecedented labor protests organized by workers in the Gulf from countries like Pakistan has prompted a move towards some reforms that would raise labor standards and working conditions in those countries. Arab and Iranian business investment in Pakistan, as well as joint projects such as the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, all represent opportunities for building cooperative linkages that might help smooth over sometimes tense relations between key countries in the region. Oil-rich Gulf countries also have provided billions of dollars of assistance to Pakistan. Saudi Arabia provides Pakistan with a large percentage of its oil, and humanitarian assistance from Arab countries and Iran was vital in the wake of Pakistan’s devastating 2005 earthquake.
In Pakistan’s recent domestic political turmoil and disputes for power, Saudi Arabia has played a facilitating role between competing Pakistani factions – just as it has among divided Palestinian and Lebanese political leaders. The Saudi ambassador to Pakistan has played a behind-the-scenes role in navigating Pakistan’s internal political divides. But it is not only the Saudis who are serving as interlocutors, earlier this year Saad al-Hariri, the son of assassinated Lebanese leader Rafiq al-Hariri, visited the Pakistani capital of Islamabad to take part in discussions about the domestic political tensions in Pakistan. Earlier this month, Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Pakistan to meet with key leaders in the government and opposition on a similar mission.
As the United States assesses options in the Middle East, Gulf, and Pakistan regions, we face no shortage of challenges. Many of our Middle East allies and adversaries are deeply in the mix in Pakistan. Tensions inside of Pakistan will continue to brew and as they do, the U.S. would do well to watch, work with, and learn from pragmatic Middle East leaders working behind the scenes to keep these tensions from boiling over. Sometimes, when played correctly, more challenges can present greater opportunities. We must make this the case, by keeping our eyes on the right actors, and multiple scenes at once, in exploring all possible ties between Pakistan, the broader region in which it sits, and the Middle East and Gulf.