부산대학교 도서관

The cost of war in men and material paid by Pakistan in American led "War on Terror" has been unprecedented to any of the ally of the War Alliance. The vitality of its role was neither appreciated, nor truly lauded as it deserved. Pakistan has its own national interests and national priorities to pursue upon not solely American interests. This mismatch severely hindered synchronization of their war effort and helping Taliban to take benefit of this existing cleavage. The paper focuses to identify the national interests of Pakistan and the United States with a view to ascertain degree of alignment and conflict in their approach. The research found that Pak-US relations since the commencement of War against Terror in Afghanistan has taken frequent turns with every major event in the theater followed by rhetoric of "do more" and threatening for suspension of aid. While playing ally's role, Pakistan's own security was internally challenged threatening socio-political polarization and national dis-integration along ethno-religious faultiness. Pakistan was left alone to fight against the safe heavens of terrorists alongside Durand line with disregard to all of its human and economic cost. Research found that Pakistan successfully played its cards as bargaining chip to seek US weight in resolving it's economic and security related issue in befitting manner. The research supports the hypotheses that Pakistan and USA had their specific interests for going into war but with partial convergence and partial divergence in their national interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]