Understanding the ‘Pak’ in ‘AfPak’: The Obama administration's security policy for Pakistan at the mid-term

This article conducts an analysis of President Obama's security policy towards Pakistan during the first half of his current term in office. It identifies the rebalancing of civil-military relations, independent surveillance activities and drone strikes as key pillars of that security policy. This article examines the causes that led to the creation of that policy along with studying the efficacy of the approach in meeting Washington's objectives in Pakistan and the wider region which include, among others, conducting counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations. Though it was a clear departure from the policy adopted by the Bush administration, this approach suffered major setbacks. These setbacks are likely to impact US-Pakistan relations during the second half of President Obama's current term.