Deepening Crisis

Deepening Crisis

The crisis between the U.S. and Pakistan had been brewing for the American operation on Pakistani soil that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2. Crisis broke this weekend after a blunder of NATO forces. Saturday, helicopters of the transatlantic alliance mistakenly
bombed two military installations in Pakistan, killing at least 25 soldiers.

Washington ally in the war against terrorism, Pakistan has condemned the attacks "unacceptable and intolerable." In retaliation, Islamabad has closed this weekend two border crossings that allow Americans and their allies to supply their bases in Afghanistan. The
Pakistani government also ordered the CIA to leave within 15 days of the military base at Shamsi, located in south-western Pakistan.

The White House has tried the past two days to ease tensions with Islamabad. Many members of the Obama administration have been in contact with their Pakistani counterparts to express their condolences. These approaches, however, were followed yesterday by
warnings from Richard Durbin, Democrat Senator from Illinois, and Jon Kyl, Conservative senator from Arizona. Pakistan’s decision to block supplies to NATO at the border with Afghanistan has also led to a rare agreement between Republicans and Democrats in
Washington. Jon Kyl said that American financial aid to Islamabad depends on the cooperation of Pakistan to U.S. war effort against terrorist networks.

Since 2001, the U.S. has provided about $ 20 billion in Pakistan.This assistance is regularly questioned by U.S. law makers. Distrust of the ally Pakistan has been revived by the secret operation ordered by Barack Obama to bring Osama bin Laden out of harm’s
way, while the spiritual leader of Al Qaeda hiding in Pakistan.

Campaigning for the Republican nomination, Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, recently requested that the policy of aid to Pakistan be reviewed. An approach shared by Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, his two main competitors. Former Assistant Secretary of Defense
under George Bush, John Bolton distanced himself from his party colleagues. "It’s tempting to say that we should stop helping Pakistani (…)" he said on Fox News

 "But as this country has a nuclear weapon that can fall into the hands of extremists (…), it has amazing arguments."

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=4969

Posted by Fouad Ashraf on Nov 28 2011. Filed under Opinion, Pakistan, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry