According to the U.S.-Global Leadership Project over 80 percent of Pakistanis do not like American policies regarding Pakistan. Majority considers the US-policies as dubious and that the U.S. biased towards India at the cost of Pakistan’s security interests. In such a scenario, Indo-US nuclear deal and their strategic partnership only reinforces perceptions against the U.S. Pakistanis consider that the U.S. led attack on Afghanistan had serious fallouts and the entire fabric of Pakistani society has been badly affected. The Indo-U.S. nuclear deal is country-specific and violates all non-proliferation norms. It is considered that access to peaceful uses of nuclear energy is the right of every state and Pakistan is no exception. Offering of a nuclear deal to overcome energy requirements in Pakistan will be a best support. A civil nuclear deal will serve as a best tool in reinstating reputable relations between two countries.
Contemplating about the future Afghan scenario, Pakistan will be the key player and the U.S. cannot afford to ignore it. It is expected that the U.S. will preserve some presence after NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan. If the U.S. does not improve relations with Pakistan, the possibility of stabilizing the region would continue to diminish. A deal in civil nuclear technology will encourage Pakistan to safeguard the U.S. interests and other returns from such a deal are obvious to pick.
If solving Pakistan’s power crisis should be a priority in Washington, then electricity starved population will be obliged to the U.S. As the deal would offer technology and fuel for energy generation then it could be the carrot essential for Pakistan to secure US strategic interests. Likewise, such deal will come under IAEA aegis and the transparency will ensue.
The foremost motive for Pakistan’s pursuit for civil nuclear covenant with the U.S. is disparity which will be created by Indo-US 123 agreement. Therefore, when the U.S. signed nuclear pact with India, Pakistan had indicated to Washington that deal would have serious fallout on deterrence stability in South Asia. To stabilise South Asia, the U.S. should offer the same nuclear deal to Pakistan. Especially, if the deal comes with the assurance that Pakistan’s existing nuclear facilities will remain intact and unmonitored. This Pak-US nuclear agreement will also facilitate US in the long run to avert the next regional war, which may well be over the water that Pakistan so desperately relies on for electricity generation.
There are two eccentric objections to offer a nuclear deal to Pakistan. First, the Taliban could take over Pakistan’s nuclear material and second, past proliferation denunciations of the country. By these standards, Pakistan also didn’t deserve U.S. military assistance to contest the Taliban. But international relations don’t work on the principle of treating countries on such standards. International relations work on the agenda of interests and confidence building measurements. Consequently US must illustrate certain confidence on her vanguard ally Pakistan in war on terror. Furthermore confidence building measurements and trust are central pillars of non-proliferation efforts led by United States. Main impediment for international non- proliferation regimes is trust deficit among the countries and discriminatory Indo-US nuclear deal will enforce such trust deficit.
In the Indian case, the flourishing India’s economy gave the United States an exceptional opening to achieve economic and diplomatic advantages. These benefits compelled US to bargain a civil nuclear deal with India. On the other hand in the Pakistani case US have precise crucial advantages in the realm of geostrategic interests. Therefore United States should offer Pakistan a civilian nuclear deal as a way to protect the relationship, relentlessly tested during the last decade, as well as to secure long-term interests with regard to containing militancy and atomic safety. By concluding a civil nuclear deal with Pakistan US government will gain greater knowledge of Pakistan’s nuclear safety and security.