Pakistanis have pressured Washington to end its covert campaign of drone strikes in the country's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and a US Special Operations training program for Pakistan's tribal defence force has largely ended. Photo by AP
WASHINGTON: The US-Pakistan security relationship has dipped to its lowest point since the September 11, 2001 attacks, threatening counterterrorism programs, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
US and Pakistan officials told the Post that the ties could deteriorate even further amid growing pressure from within the Pakistani military to reduce ties with the United States in the wake of last months US Special Operations Forces raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.
The United States kept the raid secret, not informing Pakistan ahead of time, which left its military and intelligence frustrated and humiliated after the operation that also invited allegations of incompetence and complicity.
Pakistans army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, is fighting to survive, an unnamed US official told the newspaper. His corps commanders are very strongly anti-US right now, so he has to appease them.
The pressure on Kayani is unprecedented under Pakistans strict military hierarchy.
Nobody should underestimate the pressure hes now under, another US official said.
Meanwhile, US lawmakers have been similarly displeased, complaining that Pakistani cooperation remains unreliable despite a huge US aid package that has totalled over $20 billion since 2001.
They have also denounced Pakistans arrest of several Pakistani informants who provided intelligence to the CIA about bin Ladens compound.
According to the Post, one of those detained was Major Amir Aziz, a doctor in the Pakistani armys medical corps who lived next to bin Ladens Abbottabad compound.
He was said to have monitored who entered and left the residence, though the Pakistani military denied that any army officer had been detained over what it called the Abbottabad incident.
Meanwhile, the Pakistanis have pressured Washington to end its covert campaign of drone strikes in the countrys lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and a US Special Operations training program for Pakistans tribal defence force has largely ended.
Pakistan has also withheld visas from CIA and military personnel.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/16/us-pakistan-security-ties-hit-new-low-report.html
