ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a brief discussion of the three most intractable challenges facing the state. Pakistan's initial foreign policy called for nonalignment, but that stance began to change in the mid-1950s as the United States sought allies to combat the spread of communism. Pakistan's policy makers have often sought the quick-fix solution to problems of institution building, scuttling existing programs or institutions when they encountered resistance. Pakistan's greatest shortcoming since partition has been its inability to establish stable, effective political institutions. Since the events of 9/11, Pakistan has been obliged to join the United States' global war against terrorism. In 2005, prompted by the Abdul Qadeer Khan affair, Congress passed the Ackerman amendment, reminiscent of the Pressler amendment, which required the CIA to make annual reports to Congress about Pakistan's nuclear activities, democratic development, and counterterrorism efforts. Both the incentives and the disincentives have proven problematic to Pakistani-US relations.
