Mar 12, 2012
Ambassador Chamberlin begins with giving her perspective on 9/11
and how she interacted with president Mosharaf in that era. She
believes “Mosharaf saw domestic terrorism as the number one
obstacle to developing Pakistan; that Pakistan was the victim of
internal terrorism, and he would never be able to break this
terrorism as long as the Al-Qaeda problem and Afghanistan
persisted”. Ambassador Chamebrlin then talks more about the
relationship between Pakistan and USA right after 9/11.
On September 15, 2001, USA and Pakistan began a dialogue over
terrorism. Pakistani president, Parvez Mosharaf, was careful not to
make conditions although there were clearly understood to be
conditions by USA. “It was a very productive exchange and
negotiation that we got to yes very quickly,” Ambassador Chamberlin
says. For Pakistan, internal security was the major obstacle
to attracting foreign investment and Pakistan needed foreign
investment in order to develop the economy. “At no time did
they ever consider any other threat but India to be the existential
threat against Pakistan. They never fully accepted that there was
not Pakistan’s interest [having] a friendly government in
Afghanistan ties to the Taliban,” she continues.
Ambassador Wendy J. Chamberlin is President of the Middle East Institute since March 2007. A 29-year veteran of the US Foreign Service, she was US Ambassador to Pakistan from 2001 to 2002. During her tenure in Islamabad, she played a key role in Pakistan’s cooperation for the US-led campaign against al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan following the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Chamberlin has extensive experience in counter-terrorism, having served as Director of Global Affairs and Counter-Terrorism at the National Security Council (1991-1993) and as Deputy in the Bureau of International Counter-Narcotics and Law Programs (1999-2001). As Assistant Administrator in the Asia-Near East Bureau for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) from 2002 to 2004, Ambassador Chamberlin directed civilian reconstruction programs in Iraq and Afghanistan and development assistance programs in the Middle East and East Asia. Other assignments included US Ambassador to the Laos People’s Democratic Republic (1996-1999), Director of Press and Public Affairs for the Near East Bureau (1991-1993), Deputy Chief of Mission in the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur (1993-1996), Arab-Israeli Affairs (1982-1984) and other postings in Morocco, Pakistan, Malaysia, Laos and Zaire.