A discourse analysis of Pakistan’s foreign policy towards Afghanistan 1978-1988 and 2001-2008

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the discourse of Pakistan’s foreign policy towards Afghanistan in two critical periods, 1978-1988 and 2001-2008. These two periods are significant because in both periods Pakistan was ruled by military dictators and Afghanistan was occupied by foreign powers. Between 1978 and 1988, the government of Pakistan assisted Afghan resistance guerillas—Mujahideen—to resist the Soviet occupation and its client regime in Afghanistan. However, between 2001 and 2008, the government of Pakistan cooperated with the United States to invade and subsequently occupy Afghanistan. Pakistan’s Afghan policy, in these two periods, appear contradictory. Therefore, I chose to analyze the discourse that underpinned its foreign policy. Using discourse analysis, I explore how the state of Pakistan constructed the language of its Afghan policy, what national identity was made salient in Pakistan, and where the lines between Self and Other were delineated in these two periods in order to pursue the seemingly contradictory foreign policy courses on Afghanistan. Having explored the fascinating discourses of Pakistan’s Afghan policy in the mentioned time-spans, I arrived at the conclusion that despite the apparent contradictions, there were at least two unaltered foreign policy objectives embedded in the discourses. First was Pakistan’s foreign policy objective to foster or retain a strategic partnership with the United States, and second was its long-term objective to have a pliant government in Afghanistan.