Shuja Nawaz on Pakistan and Wikileaks

The “trust gap” between the U.S. and Pakistan widened this week as documents released by WikiLeaks have raised questions about Pakistan's role in the Afghan war. Shuja Nawaz, Director of the Southeast Asia Center at the Atlantic Council and a Ploughshares grantee, appeared on PBS NewsHour to provide context.

While he acknowledged that unofficial elements within Pakistan have always given support to the Taliban and some to Al-Qaida, Nawaz knows of no evidence connecting this support to the Pakistani government.

On the leaks, Nawaz says they add a lot of noise and confusion to the dialogue.  "Despite the best efforts of policy-makers in the United States and in Pakistan to stay committed to the current path -which is that of collaboration and cooperation - there will be a lot of internal second-guessing. There will be a lot of soul-searching and seeing whether they have in fact connected all the dots, and is one side being duplicitous or is the other being duplicitous."