How Pakistan Negotiates with the United States

Riding the Roller Coaster

Over the past 60 years, Pakistan-U.S. relations have been marked by highs of close cooperation and lows of deep bilateral estrangement. Recent events and negotiations underscore the remarkable resilience but also the vulnerability and volatility of the relationship. With an interest in global security, the United States views Pakistan as a strategic partner, while Pakistan often looks to the United States as a counterweight to India and its neighbors. What interests and influences shape how these two governments interact, negotiate and reach agreements, and what challenges do these countries face in the evolution of their relationship moving forwards?

Howard and Teresita Schaffer, authors of "How Pakistan Negotiates with the United States: Riding the Roller Coaster" (USIP Press, April 2011), and panelists, addressed these questions and discussed past, present and future U.S.-Pakistan negotiations and relations. The latest volume in the Institute's series on cross-cultural negotiations.

Speakers:

Ambassador Howard B. Schaffer
Professor, Georgetown University
Ambassador Teresita Schaffer
Former Director, South Asia Program
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Stephen Cohen
Senior Fellow Foreign Policy, 21st Century Defense Initiative
The Brookings Institution
Ambassador Akbar Ahmed
Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies
American University
Richard Solomon, Introduction
President, U.S. Institute of Peace
Steve Riskin, Introduction
Senior Program Office, Grants Program
U.S. Institute of Peace
Moeed Yusuf, Moderator
South Asia Advisor, Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention
U.S. Institute of Peace