A new government has been established in Pakistan. The country held delayed and flawed elections on February 8, 2024, which included a pre-vote crackdown on the most popular party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and thousands of PTI Arresting party members and senior leaders, and removing party names and election symbols from ballot papers. Voting day was marred by internet and cell phone service outages. Voters showed up anyway to cast their votes, but reports of unexplained delays in results and discrepancies in vote tabulation further mired the election in controversy. Behind this was the military's usual strategy of supporting the political parties they supported and fighting with all their might against political parties they did not support.
The administration of US President Joe Biden, which has effectively worsened relations with Pakistan, has remained conspicuously silent on pre-election poll manipulation. Biden has ignored Pakistan for the past three years, never calling the Pakistani prime minister, while the State Department continues to engage with Pakistan, finding new footing in relations that soured after the end of the US-China war. I am trying to do. Afghanistan. The day after the election, the State Department acknowledged concerns about “allegations of fraud in the electoral process” and called for a thorough investigation into any allegations of interference.
A number of members of Congress, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, and the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman issued similar statements, some much stronger than the State Department. In late February, 31 members of Congress sent the following letter: letter It calls on the Biden administration to withhold confirmation of the new administration “until an investigation determines that the election was not fraudulent.”
Official statements from other countries were also more pointed about Pakistan's election day irregularities and specific about pre-poll manipulation. For example, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron stated that “all political parties were not formally allowed to participate in elections, and that legal procedures were used to prevent some political leaders from participating.'' I regret what happened.”
Although neither the State Department nor the White House have issued any official statements congratulating the new government, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Brohm congratulated Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif shortly after Sharif was sworn into office. We are holding dialogues with both the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of Pakistan. New President Asif Zardari. On March 29, Mr. Biden wrote Mr. Sharif a short note about the “enduring partnership” between the two countries, marking the first official assistance from Mr. Biden to a Pakistani prime minister since 2021.
A parliamentary hearing on March 20 focused on Pakistan's elections and the future of democracy. In his testimony, Donald Lew, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, pointed to the election fraud investigation by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which has previously announced that it would not be able to revoke new elections if fraud was found. It was pointed out that it was carried out. The State Department's confidence in the ECP is misplaced this election cycle. The ECP repeatedly failed to meet its constitutional obligations and appeared partisan. In response to a question about what would happen to US-Pakistan relations if the ECP fails to properly investigate wrongdoings, Lu pointed out that relations would be adversely affected. The history of U.S.-Pakistan relations shows that this is unlikely.
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The Biden administration insists that democracy at home and abroad is a key focus. But when it comes to democracy in Pakistan, it has largely failed. The U.S. government's callous attitude toward the destruction of Pakistan's democratic process this election cycle is more than a lack of interest, it reflects the very nature of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. Pakistan's military has long been the United States' partner of choice in the country, through both military and civilian regimes.
Pakistan's military has long been the United States' partner of choice in the country, through both military and civilian regimes.
From General Ayub Khan in the 1960s to General Zia ul-Haq in the 1980s to General Pervez Musharraf in the early 2000s, America has perhaps been closest to Pakistan's military dictators. Part of the story is the decades-long American involvement in Afghanistan. In the 1980s, Pakistan secretly partnered with the United States to support the Mujahideen in the Soviet-Afghan war. Since 2001, Pakistan has allied with the administration of US President George W. Bush in the start of the Afghanistan war and received $23 billion in security aid and military reimbursements by 2018. The militaries of both countries continue to cooperate on counterterrorism concerns.
The US partnership with Pakistan's military is also a product of US anxiety about Pakistan's stability and fear that the country's nuclear weapons could fall into the wrong hands. Pakistan's military presents itself both domestically and internationally as the country's most capable institution, and the United States has internalized that idea. US financial and non-financial support to Pakistan's military has in turn strengthened its strength.
However, America's belief that the military is Pakistan's guarantor of stability remains largely unsubstantiated. Over the past two years, the military has sparked the worst political crisis Pakistan has faced in decades.
Pakistan's military actions have also been a source of great dissatisfaction for the United States in the past. The United States has long maintained that the Army has been playing second fiddle in Afghanistan since 2001, providing Pakistan with a sanctuary for the Afghan Taliban, seeking to counter the enemy in Afghanistan, a friendly government to the west, and the elusive He has claimed that he sought to achieve “strategic depth.” eastern side of India. This policy is also hurting Pakistan's own citizens. Since the Taliban's occupation of Afghanistan, Pakistan is once again facing serious security challenges from the Pakistani Taliban, which has cross-border sanctuaries and logistics bases in Afghanistan.
However, the United States remains dependent on Pakistan's military, particularly for counterterrorism concerns in Afghanistan and the region. Although relations between the United States and Pakistan's civilian government have deteriorated under the Biden administration, relations between the two militaries remain intact and strong. Pakistan's current army commander visited the United States in December and met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other civilian officials.
PTI leader Imran Khan, who has repeatedly and baselessly blamed the US for the April 2022 expulsion, has also failed to win him friends in Washington.
The United States' close relationship with Pakistan's military means that even though the crackdown on the PTI has intensified and thousands of party members were jailed last summer, the military has used its usual strategy to attack the country this year. That may explain why he remained silent on influencing the election. PTI leader Imran Khan, who has repeatedly and baselessly blamed the US for the April 2022 expulsion, has also failed to win him friends in Washington.
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The Biden administration has been more vocal about flaws in electoral processes in countries other than Pakistan. For example, regarding Bangladesh, which held a controversial election just weeks before Pakistan, the State Department said, “We share the view with other observers that the election was neither free nor fair, and that all political parties participated.'' I regret that there was no such thing.”
The US also issued stronger statements after Pakistan's flawed 2018 elections. This election stacked the odds against Sharif's PML-N party, but (in contrast to 2024) all political parties are allowed to participate using their party name and symbol. Ta. Trump's State Department cited “unequal campaigning opportunities” and said, “The United States shares concerns about flaws in the pre-voting electoral process, as expressed by the Pakistan Human Rights Commission.” .
For the sake of Pakistan's democracy (and for Pakistan's own credibility), the United States must speak out more strongly about the military's unwarranted interference in Pakistan's electoral process and other attempts to subvert democracy. No. The U.S. government's defiance of Pakistan's Election Commission and its judicial process makes no sense when these institutions often function as appendages of the military in this election cycle. A strong US stance on democracy and elections in Pakistan could begin to change the usual strategy of the Pakistani military. This is because the Pakistan military's measure of legitimacy comes from US support.
Pakistani voters put their faith in democracy in 2024, but once again they will vote within the constraints set by the military junta. The Biden administration missed an opportunity this election cycle. The United States should not do such things in the future.