Monday, June 25, 2012

The increasing U.S. pressure on Pakistan

As you may have been reading the news lately, a few months ago, due to an unintended attack on a border post in Pakistan, Pakistan lost 24 soldiers and hence closed the NATO supply route that provides supplies to the NATO troops in Pakistan. There was much hue and cry and Pakistan said that their Parliament would review their ties with the U.S. Ultimately the Parliament demanded that there should be apology, end to drone attacks and increase in the transit fees. The apology was going to be forth coming but it was stopped in its track when the Pakistani government informed that the U.S. that don’t yet apologize and wait for their parliament to review the ties and then you can do it. But Pakistan was not in such a hurry and they waited for months before the review came and then it was too late. Pakistan did overplayed its card badly and they thought that by blocking the routes they had the upper hand on the U.S. but now that the news came that the U.S. would have alternate arrangement with other countries (even if it is expensive) and all the review have went down the drain. In this case the election season in both countries have prevented any reapproachment that was going to done. No apology is forthcoming, drone attacks have in fact increased and the transit fees that the Pakistanis were demanding ($5,000.00) per truck as against $250.00 before have scuttled any chances for a quick solution in any time soon.

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