The U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter said the United States promised too much to Pakistan while discussing foreign relations.

During his lecture at Harvard School on Monday, Munter said he endured as the ambassador to Pakistan through major crises.

“We over-promised, not because we meant to over-promise,” Munter said, “but because there was so much of an effort to build a strategic relationship, from issues like water to the role of women in the country.”

Munter said he guided Pakistan during crises and “a series of disasters,”while leading a 2,500-employee embassy.

There was a contradiction, he said, of America’s long-term and short-term goals.

“In the long-term we have a commitment to stability and parallel processes to efforts in Pakistan,” Munter said, “but on the short-term we focus on counter-terrorism.”

It is important to understand Pakistani society is distinguishable from the Pakistani state, Munter said.

“Pakistani society is like a ship that sometimes can’t go forward and it can’t go backward, but it can’t sink,” Munter said. “It is resilient.”

Munter also talked about the intelligence aspect of the U.S.-Pakistani relationship.

“The CIA-ISI relationship is still cooperative,” Munter said. “The Pakistani government realizes that we have a lot in common on counter-terrorism and we still have a decent relationship with the intelligence.”

But this may change when Pakistan’s Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, announces his retirement, which is predicted to be around March 18, Munter said.

He said the “military-military relationship has taken a beating,” referring to Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s dismissal of American personnel.

Munter said when military aid was limited because of the incident he told Kayani “when trainers go, equipment has to go to. If you get rid of the boys, then you have to get rid of the toys. He said, ‘I understand.’”

Deep down, he said, Pakistani politicians do not want Americans to go away.

“What they want is partnership and a better sense of respect, “ Munter said. “We need to expand to get them out of a certain narrative they have created about the U.S. We have to be less arrogant.”

Munter said it was imprudent to ask if Pakistan loves America or vice versa.

“Talk about concrete things we can do together,” Munter said. “Like the American philosopher Tina Turner asked, ‘What’s love got to do with it?’”

US leaders at the time “over-promised” extensive commitments to Pakistan, aiming to strengthen the two countries’ relations, Mr Munter said. But those assurances backfired when American leaders failed to deliver on their promises.