CENTCOM commander General James Mattis says that he expects the Pakistani government to agree to reopen the border to NATO supplies “soon,” adding that he plans to visit Pakistan later this month to “reopen the discussion.”
The Pakistani government closed the border in late November in response to a US attack on a pair of Pakistani military bases. Though NATO has denied that the closure has impacted the occupation, Mattis said it could conceivably threaten the planned reduction in the size of the US occupation force in the country.
US officials have repeatedly predicted that the routes would be reopened “soon,” and even kept truck drivers waiting at the border for weeks on end under that assumption. Even Pakistani Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani predicted in December that the blockade would only last “several additional weeks.”
Behind the surprising delays are that relations with Pakistan haven’t really gotten any better since November, with major anti-US rallies continuing nationwide and anger at US meddling in internal conflicts.
Regardless of what the Pakistani government decides on this issue, its people now hate us. It is somewhat conceivable that America created deep hatred in Iraq and Afghanistan after our actions, but to do so in a country that has been considered to be one of our very best allies is mind boggling. Just what do the peoples of neighboring countries think of us? Whatever happened to winning hearts and minds?
I can´t help but think that this a purposeful strategy of some kind, to belligerently show that America doesn´t give a damn about anybody in the world and the world will just have to deal with it. Now that I think about it, that seems to be the US government´s strategy to its own people lately.
The really sad part is that once a government goes down the road of belligerent arrogance, it rarely gives it up willingly – something about saving face or some such stupid self-fulfilling idea.
pakistan expects US to halt the drones soon
US opens its pockets and Pakistan opens its borders.