The Obama Administration has withdrawn its negotiators from Pakistan after failing to reach a deal with the Pakistani government on reopening the border to occupied Afghanistan. The border has been closed since November, when US warplanes attacked Pakistani border outposts, killing 24 soldiers.
Pakistan’s parliament had conditioned a deal on the US apologizing for the November attack and stopping all drone strikes against the tribal areas. The cabinet has suggested that it would accept less than what parliament was asking, provided it included a significant increase in fees for trucks crossing the border.
The US, for its part, has spurned both Pakistani demands, refusing to apologize and escalating the drone attacks even further. The US has also condemned the calls for higher fees as “price gouging.”
Despite being unwilling to make any concessions, the US embassy seemed to fault Pakistan for the lack of a deal, saying that it was ready to rush negotiators back to the country “as soon as Pakistan is ready” to conclude a deal.
How that is supposed to happen at this point is unclear. Anger at the US is only growing in Pakistan, and with Pakistani elections drawing ever closer it will be harder and harder for the Zardari government to bypass parliament and cut a sweetheart deal for the US, even if it were able to get some nominal concession.
Why on earth Pakistan doesn't just kick the US out completely I don't know. Is it the foreign aid? Or threats from the US?
The US is the sugar daddy; Pakistan is a poor country. There won't be ajny threat of war as we're already bogged down in Afghanistan.
The US publically condemns price gouging, but believes murdering innocent families in other people´s country is OK. What kind of human being would think like that?
A psychopath.
Those looking to pinpoint the Problem need look at th''Boss…… She is as charming as broken glass…. As tactful as Jeffrey Dahmer ……. Milk turns sour when her name is uttered…………. Her scatological jokes are about the feces of children she has conspired to murder………….. I wonder WHY there is no deal…….???? Replace her with Rodney King……….. I can only dream [Of decency] …………….
That border won´t bwe open anymore, grow up obama
US negotiators have watched "The Godfather" too often
As part of this equation–and it no doubt is–India must be jumping up and down with joy.
The Pakistanis are beginning to gravitate toward the Chinese, and the Chinese will likely do a better job respecting Pakistan's sovereignty and building its infrastructure than we have been motivated to do. If they are also able help build the IPI pipeline, it will change the dynamic of the region and we will find ourselves more and more marginalized in Central Asia.
We don't need to keep pouring aid into a bottomless military pit in Pakistan, and the Pakistanis don't need us, especially if we will continue to import war in the region for our own geopolitical agenda. Why we haven't tried diplomacy and peace instead of war, especially where it would benefit our economic interests and contribute to stability and long lasting relationships between us, Pakistan and the other countries in the region is an unanswerable question.