The Risks Of Policy Independence In Post Obama Era

Despite vast research on Pakistan and the United States of America relationship,the nature of the relationship is still open to debates in academic circles.The current debates are about how this relationship is being transformed in the twenty-first century and is it still the same as the patron-client relationship,which used to be during the cold war.This study examines the United States of America and Pakistan's relationship in the post-Obama era to answer the scholarly questions of why Pakistan is looking for options other than the United States of America,the strategy for that,what are potential risks and ways to alleviate those foreseeable risks.The research was qualitative comparative in nature,using an empirical model by comparing Pakistan with the Philippines.The field research has been conducted to obtain primary data,using interviews as the main tool,and the sample was selected based on snowballsampling,while secondary sources were also utilized.The analysis of data was conducted in the light of Offensive realism,and a descriptive analysis tool was used to interpret the data;also,the Philippines' strategy of reducing dependency on the United States of America was used in the analysis to balance the risk.It was observed that the relationship between Pakistan and the United States of America is greatly influenced negatively by the growing Indo-US nexus due to great-power rivalry and offshoring efforts of the United States of America in South Asia.While Pakistan now considers itself militarily secure due to the balance of terror enabled by nuclear weapons,while it is exploring other options to reduce the dependency.However,still,it is vulnerable in economic terms,which are being fixed by political elites in Islamabad,and there are many items on the table to cooperate with the United States of America.This study will allow scholars and policymakers in both Islamabad and Washington to understand what are the bottlenecks to continue a healthy and productive relationship,also giving a better understanding of their actions and objectives.Also,giving Pakistan ideas of its power and vulnerability and ways to fix them.Further,it will help academia in understanding the great-power rivalry impacts on the regional politics of South Asia.