Energy Matters in Relationship, India Matters More

摘要

Pushed together by proximity and necessity, Russia and Pakistan have in recent years been tightening their diplomatic, security and trade ties — and talking about energy cooperation. Although the Russia-Pakistan partnership isn't nearly as intimate as the long Russia-India marriage, formerly hostile Moscow and Islamabad have edged closer since the Sep. 11, 2001, attacks on the US. As the US pullback from Afghanistan gamers momentum, their relationship will likely intensify: Whether forward into closer alliance or backward into enmity will depend on Pakistan's Afghanistan policy. Pakistan and Russia were in opposing camps during the Cold War, on opposite sides of the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and at odds during the Chechen wars in the 1990s. But as Cold War alliances faded and Pakistan, a longtime sponsor of Islamic militants in Russia's backyard, joined the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan, they began putting old grudges aside. Now they're working together to prepare for the US military drawdown in Afghanistan (p2). "Russia and Pakistan are condemned to come closer together," Russian Consul General Andrey Demidov reportedly said in an April speech in Karachi.