This afternoon, at Brookings, Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Quershi of Pakistan gave a speech entitled “Opportunities and Challenges in Pakistan’s Foreign Policy”. The address, perhaps unsurprisingly, focused heavily on the ‘Opportunities’ side of things, with talk of building a new and stronger relationship with the U.S., drawing closer to India, and ameliorating extremism-prone living conditions in the poverty-stricken north of the country.

The overall tone of the speech was one of enthusiasm for greater U.S.-Pakistan cooperation, and optimism about Pakistan’s stated goals of peace and stability in the region. The lecture was partly just a restatement of Pakistan’s official positions on the big foreign policy issues. Minister Quershi talked of support for a two-state solution to the Palestinian problem, the unwillingness of the Pakistani government to negotiate with terrorists, their commitment to a stable Afghanistan, etc. On the other hand, it was also partly a call for a rethinking of the Pakistan-United States relationship.

Quershi conjured up a grand image of partnership between Pakistan and America, saying that we must strengthen a relationship based on ‘shared values’. The Foreign Minister insisted that our bilateral rapport has too long hinged on security collaboration. Instead, Quershi argued that we must move away from just military-to-military cooperation towards a more ‘people oriented’ relationship.

All of this lofty language was wonderful to hear, but hardly substantive. Thankfully, it soon became clear what Quershi meant when talking about strengthening deep personal ties between the two states. He noted that such social cooperation is, of course, inextricably linked to economic cooperation. Thus, he called for a U.S.-Pakistan free trade agreement. Moreover, in order to pull people back from extremist ideology, their socioeconomic situation must naturally be improved, so that they are resented with an alternative to fundamentalism.

In the end I suppose Quershy is quite right; money is indeed a value we all share.

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