Boehner: US, Pakistan Face ‘Make-or-Break’ Moment

Ties Continue to Worsen After Bin Laden Killing

Speaking today on the Today Show, House Speaker John Boehner (R – OH) warned that the US and Pakistan are facing a “make-or-break” moment in their relations, saying it was vital to repair the increasingly worsening ties.

US-Pakistani relations have been worsening for months, since the arrest of CIA agent Raymond Davis over a double murder in Lahore. Since then, disputes over US drone strikes were lingering, and now the bin Laden raid has added a new urgency.

This is particularly because the White House has insisted the raid was not a special case but was indicative of a policy of “reserving the right” to launch unilateral attacks into Pakistan on the president’s say-so. The Zardari government has warned it reserves the right to respond militarily to future raids.

The prospect of such attacks becoming normal across Pakistan has many up in arms, and has led to calls from opposition leader and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the nation to “review” its relationship with the United States.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.