WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): A group of experts in the United States has called for “pragmatic engagement” with Pakistan, saying the US administration had pinned great hopes on their alliance, only to be “disappointed and frustrated.”

Coinciding with the visit of Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Pakistani Study Group in a report, “US Re-Engagement with Pakistan: Ideas for Reviving an Important Relationship,” spoke about the country’s poorly veiled support for the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, backing for jihadi groups targeting Kashmir, close embrace of China and expanding nuclear arsenal. At the same time, the experts advise against ignoring or trying to isolate Pakistan because of its population size, its location and possession of nuclear weapons.

The report argues for a “modest pragmatic” relationship between the two countries while accepting the facts that the two countries differ on India, China and Afghanistan. The US administrations going back to President Eisenhower had great hopes from their alliance, only to be “disappointed and frustrated,” it said. It also says the US will not be able to change Pakistan’s “strategic calculus.” But instead of relying on either inducements or threats to encourage greater cooperation, the report proposes that the two countries “develop a framework for pragmatic engagement.”

The report, according to a media release, lays out what “American critics of Pakistan” have long stated that “Pakistan has always pursued its own agenda, which too often collides with American interests” and yet Pakistan “repeatedly seeks US money and arms without keeping its commitments.”The report said American policymakers need to move beyond thinking simply in terms of either massive amounts of aid or coercion as policy tools in dealing with Pakistan.

It also cautions Pakistan’s leaders and says they too need to move beyond the fantasy that it is critical to America and so US policymakers will always be focused on Pakistan. “There is also a need for acceptance within the Pakistani leadership that all of Pakistan’s problems, especially terrorism and militancy, cannot be laid at the door of the US,” it said.

Regarding security cooperation, the report said, “The US has long doubted Pakistan’s commitment to act against militant extremist groups that operate from its soil, especially those that focus on India and Afghanistan.”

Referring to Pakistan’s presence on the grey list of the UN Financial Action Task Force (FATF), it says, “While it is likely that Pakistan will finally be taken off that list, some monitoring by the US and the international community will continue to be needed to assure Pakistan’s compliance with FATF demands.”

The report noted that Pakistan “continues to see relations with India as a zero-sum game” and that “the more US equities in India increase, the more Pakistan becomes apprehensive.” Further, the authors of the report said while it should be clear that the US sees no role for itself as a mediator in Kashmir, yet it needs to remain engaged as “a major terrorist attack in India blamed on Pakistan-based militants, or some other type of precipitating event, could cause a wider conflict that has the potential to escalate to use of nuclear weapons”. The report said Pakistan “has a long history of curbing dissent, of impeding the work of civil society organizations and suppressing media freedoms. Unfortunately, in recent years that has only worsened.” It calls upon the US “to continue its support for Pakistan’s civil society, media and press, academia and policy world. According to the report, Pakistan needs to guarantee rights to its own citizens, protect rights of its minorities.

“The US will need to keep an eye on terrorist groups, both domestic and global, and Pakistan too needs to deal less selectively in addressing the threats posed by its militant extremist groups,” the reports said.

It also recommended that the US must continue efforts, including at multilateral forums, to remind Pakistan about the need to act against terrorist groups and individuals on its soil.

“Pakistan has long insisted that terrorist groups such as Jaish-e-Muhammad or Lashkar-e-Taiba are too powerful and pervasive for the military establishment to challenge easily and that it needs time to act against them,” the report said.

It added that the US should work behind the scenes and in subtle ways to pressure Pakistan to continue to crack down on these groups within its territory. “Gulf Arab countries, too, must be encouraged to pressure Pakistan in changing its direction,” the report said. Authors of the report include former US ambassadors to Pakistan, Ryan Crocker and Cameron Munter; former assistant secretary of state Robin Raphel; Kamran Bokhari, Director, Analytical Development, New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy; Toby Dalton, co-director and a senior fellow of the Nuclear Policy Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Among other authors are Husain Haqqani, former Pakistan ambassador to the US and Director South and Central Asia, Hudson Institute; Elizabeth Threlkeld, Director, South Asia Programme, Stimson Center; Dr Harlan K Ullman, Senior Advisor, Atlantic Council; Dr Marvin Weinbaum, Scholar-in-Residence, Middle East Institute; and Uzair Younus, Director Pakistan Initiative, Atlantic Council.