Pakistan's Special Stance in the War on Terror

Since Sept. 2001 incident and the American occupation of Afghanistan, Pakistani Army has always been regarded as the frontline guard against fundamentalism and the main bridge for the military operations against Taliban and al-Qaeda. By the same token, the US has revised its foreign policy priorities in relations with Pakistan, leading to the elimination of the sanctions taken previously for its nuclear testing and the military rule. Islam Abad’s special stance in the War against Terror is the main reason for change in Washington's policy and the reasons for this change of policy is the impetus of this article. Accordingly, the article proposes that al-Qaeda’s relation with extremist religious seminaries in Pakistan and their determination to expand the extremist doctrines, Taliban’s presence and influence in Pakistan’s tribal autonomous region, Pakistani terrorist groups and their close ties with Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Taliban are the main reasons for Pakistan’s close cooperation with the US, without which any operation against terrorism remains almost endless.