Students Research Pakistan’s Military-Civilian Relationship

Two Belfer Center International Global Affairs (IGA) fellows traveled to Pakistan in March for a week of research about the Pakistani military and its relationship with the civilian government.

The trip is part of the Belfer Center's research project focusing on the Pakistani military, led by Executive Director Eric Rosenbach and researched by HKS students FranciscoAguilar, Randy Bell, Natalie Black, Sayce Falk, and Sasha Rogers. The research done in Pakistan will be incorporated into the final report that is scheduled for publication in June.

Rosenbach launched the project because he found that the most pressing issues in the region all involve the Pakistani military, yet there is no easily digestible authoritative literature on the institution. The final report is intended for policymakers-including those at the U.S. State and Defense Departments-and the interested public, according to Bell, a second-year MPP student and IGA fellow.

"There's a lot of talk about the Pakistani military and there's a lot of misconception," said Bell. The report aims to clear up some of the misconceptions, but also provides background on how the Pakistani military operates. Two of the misconceptions addressed in the report are the lack of a counter insurgency strategy and the "lost generation" of senior military leadership.

Pakistan's counterinsurgency strategy, though initially ineffective, has evolved into a successful approach. The aspect that still needs improvement is the civilian follow-up to the military operation.

The Pakistani military is such a powerful institution that it has crowded out the civilian side of counterinsurgency, according to Aguilar, an IGA fellow and dual-degree candidate with Harvard Kennedy School and MIT's Sloan School of Management.

The weak civilian side is unable to employ the needed development efforts to maintain the military gains. "You spill a lot of blood and do it well, but if you don't have a credible, capable partner, it may not be sustainable," Aguilar said.

The second misconception is that a "lost generation" of senior military officers exists because of the Pressler sanctions in the nineties. While the number of officers who trained in the U.S. dropped substantially during the Pressler era, some officers did still train here, according to Bell.

The effect of the Pressler sanctions, while not as extreme as some think, does impact U.S.-Pakistan relations today. "What you're seeing is a generation of Pakistani officers who really have minimal contact with the U.S.," said Bell. The lack of personal connections has led to a "trust deficit" between the two countries and it is harder for the U.S. to make its voice heard in Pakistan.

The project/trip was independent of the U.S. government, an important detail when applying for visas and scheduling interviews. Bell and Aguilar met with retired military officers, politicians, academics, and journalists.