In May 2011 Ron Nehring served as a member of a State Department-sponsored delegation to Pakistan. The mission took place 12 days following the death of Osama Bin Laden in Abbotabad, Pakistan. This PowerPoint presentation provides a report on the mission and conditions in the country at the time.

1. Pakistan Since Bin Laden:
A Mission Report on America’s
Most Important Unreliable Ally
Ron Nehring

2. Today’s Presentation
• Background and findings from a U.S. State Departmentsponsored mission to Pakistan, May 16 – 21, 2011.

3. Why Pakistan Matters
• Nuclear power.
Its arsenal
cannot be
allowed to fall
into the hands of
extremists.
• Borders
Afghanistan,
therefore
essential to our
success there.

9. Political Situation in Pakistan
• Governed by center-left PPP. Party
founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in
‘67.
• Parliamentary democracy. President
Asif Zardari (PPP) elected by
members of Parliament plus
provincial legislatures.
• Prime Minister Syed Gilani (PPP).
• Main opposition party: center-right
Muslim League.
• “Religious” parties fare extremely
poorly in Pak elections.

10. Pakistan is poor. GDP per capita is $995 (compared to $4,540
in Iran, $3,744 in China, $1,192 in India, and $45,989 in US)

11. Meeting with Pakistani Members of Parliament. This meeting degenerated into an
America-bashing session, with PPP Secretary General Taj Haider attacking US policies
while praising China.

12. Pakistanis Talking Points
• America is unreliable.
• Pak helped US during Soviet era in
Afghanistan, then abandoned.
• American foreign policy hurts
Pakistan.
• Bin Laden raid violated Pakistani
sovereignty.
• US financial assistance has too many
conditions attached.
• China is great.

13. Meetings with the Pakistanis
• Degenerated into America-bashing sessions until we
provided pushback with questions related to:
– Haqqani network
– Lashkar-e-Taiba
– Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
• After pushback, constructive conversations concerning
economy, trade, democracy.

14. American Aid to Pakistan since 2002
Program or Account
Training and equipment
Counternarcotics (Pentagon)
Coalition Support Funds (Pentagon)
Pak frontier corp train + equip
Foreign Military Financing
International Mil Ed + Training
Intl Narc Control + Law Enf
NADR (anti-terrorism)
Pak Counterinsurgency Fund
Total Security-Related
Amount (M)
$
212
$
288
$
8,881
$
100
$
2,160
$
18
$
528
$
90
$
1,900
$
14,177
Child Survival and Health
Development Assistance
Economic Support Funds
Food Aid
Human Rights + Democracy Funds
International Disaster Asst
Migration + Refugee
Total Economic-Related
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
221
286
4,797
413
17
650
152
6,536
Total Security + Economic Aid
$
20,713
Pakistan spends
~$6 billion annually
on defense.

15. Common American
Problems in Diplomacy
• Treating diplomacy as something other than
advocacy for America.
• Underestimating the impact undercurrents on
the “citizens” we meet.
• “Clientitis”
• “Mirror Imaging”

16. Meeting with Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan. The
PML(N) is in control of this province, and advocated for trade, lower taxes and
regulations, and no US aid.

17. Visit to the Punjab Provincial Assembly.

18. Recommended Reading on Foreign
Affairs and Diplomacy

19. Pakistan Since Bin Laden:
A Mission Report on America’s Most
Important Least Trusted Ally
Ron Nehring