PAKistan 'War on Terror':
Pakistan's relationship with the "war on terror" has been highly controversial. On the one hand, Pakistan immediately after the 9/11. From then until now, it has played a key role in facilitating US-led intervention in Afghanistan. It has allowed U.S. territory to move US forces into Afghanistan within Pakistani territory. Pakistan has also tolerated US missile strikes against Taliban and al-Qaeda targets in the border region bordering Afghanistan.
On the other hand, Pakistan has provided a safe haven not only for its rival India, but also for radical Islamist movements targeting the Afghan Taliban. Al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri are believed to be hiding in Pakistan. Although it is not clear to what extent and by whom they are being protected within the Pakistani government, Pakistan has certainly not helped the United States in finding and capturing them. There have also been press reports that Pakistan has blocked some Taliban leaders' efforts to bring peace to the US-backed Karzai government in Kabul. US-Pakistan relations have become increasingly strained over the "war on terror" proceedings, but co-operation between them continues.
The explanation for this ambiguity is that while the United States and Pakistan have common goals, their priorities are clearly different. The US was primarily concerned with the Soviet threat during the Cold War, and focused on the threat posed by al Qaeda and its Taliban allies since the 9/11 attacks. In contrast, Pakistan has been concerned primarily with its struggle with India since the two became independent from Britain in 1947. The fate of Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region that was divided during the first war between India and Pakistan, remained a major concern for Pakistan. This includes many others, including which of these two rivals will have the most influence in Afghanistan.
Pakistan has also been fully concerned with the protection of its territorial integrity. This country is a pair of ethnic groups that have very little to do other than follow Islam. In the early 1970s, the conflict between the two parts of the country, West and East Pakistan, was largely over, with an ethnic majority prevailing. Indian intervention in this war allowed East Pakistan to become separate and Bangladesh. Since then, the Pakistani military and security services have urged Pakistan's Islamic identity to keep the rest of its disputed ethnic groups together. But one group has been at the forefront of Pakistan's military and security services, and that is why it has been in government since independence: Punjabi.
Kashmir provides an important point for all Pakistanis, who believe that even the Muslims there can live in Pakistan with an overwhelming majority. However, Kashmir has also created a problem for the Pakistani government and army. Pakistan has neither succeeded in capturing it from India nor can it persuade India to give it up. But, while it has no real hope of gaining Indian-administered Kashmir, no Pakistani government can afford to acknowledge this or abandon Pakistan's claim. Doing so was not only unpopular within Pakistan but could also encourage other races (Pashtuns, Sindhis and Balochs) to push for secession from the Punjabi-majority state.
During their Cold War alliance, American and Pakistani different priorities were clear: the United States sought Pakistan as an ally against the USSR, while Pakistan sought the United States as an ally against India. Pakistani-American cooperation culminated in the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, when the United States, Pakistan, and many others supported the Afghan Mujahideen, who were resisting Russia. Even then, Pakistan sided with more Islamist Afghan Mujahideen groups than with more nationalists. It seemed that Islamabad would have a greater impact on the former.
After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1988-89, American concerns about the country and South Asia in general abated. However, Pakistan remained hostile to India. To connect Pakistan to the new independent Central Asia (thus taking advantage of the politically powerful Pakistani trucking industry), and even to extend Pakistan's influence in Afghanistan to Central Asia, a secure road network across Afghanistan And the security services also believe that an alliance in Afghanistan would give Pakistan "strategic depth" in any conflict with India (although what that means and how it will work can be explained.) )
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