No Exit from Pakistan.

AuthorCamp, Donald
PositionBook review

No Exit from Pakistan: America's Tortured Relationship with Islamabad by Daniel S. Markey, Cambridge University Press, 2013, ISBN-13: 978-1107623590, 253 pp., $71.16 (Hardcover), $25.19 (Paperback), $12.49 (Kindle).

There is much to ponder in this well-written and comprehensive account of US-Pakistan relations and where we go from here. It is not an encouraging book for those looking for solutions. There are no easy ones.

Markey sets the tone with his title. "No Exit" refers to the Jean-Paul Sartre play in which three people find themselves condemned to spending eternity tormenting each other, with no way out. Markey, who spent four years working on the U.S.-Pakistan relationship at the State Department, sees Washington and Islamabad suffering the same fate, tied together in a cycle of mutual recrimination. To his credit, he tries to find a way out.

He outlines U.S. interests in Pakistan--not surprisingly, counter-terrorism, the threat of nuclear weapons, and regional stability. He also paints a nuanced picture of Pakistan today - part economic basket case, part military -dominated garrison state, part terrorist incubator, and part youthful idealist. Only the last is vaguely hopeful for the future. And, he tries to explain the anti-Americanism that so pervades Pakistan today.

But the best part of the book is the cogent and informed recounting of the travails of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship since 9/11. He contrasts the Colin Powell/Rich Armitage era at the State Department--the "realist" era when the U.S., out of necessity, worked closely with the military government of General/President Pervez Musharraf--with the Condi Rice period marked by her "freedom agenda" promoting democracy in the Muslim world. We should not make too much of this distinction. Events in Pakistan--especially exhaustion with Musharraf--were driving events at least as much as U.S. policy interests. Markey acknowledges as much, but points out that U.S. efforts to mediate a gradual transition to civilian rule in the lead up to the 2008 elections ended with the U.S. being blamed by all sides. The lesson: sometimes it's best to support democratic institutions, and not specific individuals (in this case, Benazir Bhutto).

By the time we get to the Obama administration, there is a civilian government in Islamabad and a bipartisan effort in Washington to support it. Markey delves deeply into how the Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill to provide $1.5 billion in civilian assistance per...

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