U.S., Pakistan at loggerheads

WASHINGTON, July 12 (UPI) -- Cracks in relations between the United States and Pakistan have reached possible fissure stage following the U.S. raid to kill Osama bin Laden.

Washington, following Islamabad's decision to expel U.S. Special Forces in the country training Pakistani troops, is scrapping or suspending about $800 million in foreign military aid, including funds Pakistan says it needs for operations against terrorists and insurgents operating from tribal areas next to Afghanistan.

Pakistan, still smarting over not being advised beforehand of the U.S. raid that killed the al-Qaida leader hiding in Pakistan, says the United States is ignoring its sovereignty.

Washington indicates Pakistan's military and security service can't be trusted to do what is necessary to curtail Southwest Asia's terrorism; Islamabad says cutting aid and national slights does little to win friends and cooperation.

"But we have to show that this is a two-way street, not just a one-way street," U.S. Secretary of Defense and former CIA Director Leon Panetta told NBC News.

"They have some obligations. They've got to help us be able to go after some of the targets we've assigned them. They've got to be able to give us their cooperation.

"And they've got to know that we're not going to give out a blank check until they show that this is a two-way relationship," he said.

That relationship has seldom been on solid ground. Ties unraveled in the 1990 when the U.S. Congress blocked military aid to the country when Washington couldn't certify that Islamabad didn't possess a nuclear weapon.

Islamabad has since shown it does indeed possess nuclear weapons, weapons developed as a counter to rival India's nuclear program.

(It should be noted that Pakistan's chief nuclear scientist was later found to have shared his technical secrets with North Korea and Libya.)

In the aftermath of the 2001 attacks on the United States, relations took new turn when Islamabad was enlisted as an ally against al-Qaida, its bases in Afghanistan and Afghanistan's Islamist Taliban regime.

"Top U.S. officials have praised Pakistan for its ongoing cooperation, although long-held doubts exist about Islamabad's commitment to some core U.S. interests," a Congressional Research Service report said.

"Pakistan is identified as a base for terrorist groups and their supporters operating in Kashmir, India, and Afghanistan. Pakistan's army has conducted unprecedented and largely ineffectual counter-terrorism operations in the country's western tribal areas, where al-Qaida operatives and pro-Taliban militants are said to enjoy 'safe haven.'

"U.S. officials increasingly are concerned that the cross-border infiltration of Islamist militants from Pakistan into Afghanistan is a key obstacle to defeating the Taliban insurgency."

At U.S. prodding, and with U.S. funding, Pakistan's military have been conducting anti-terrorist operation in the lawless tribal areas but with mixed results.

Four recent raids on known terrorist bases -- the intelligence provided the Pakistanis by the United States -- came up empty-handed. The militants fled before the assault, fueling suspicion that they had been tipped off.

Bin Laden, the world's most wanted terrorist, lived in a compound close to a major Pakistani military facility less than 100 miles from Islamabad.

Little wonder then that U.S. suspicions of complicity by some members of the country's army and security service despite Pakistan's pique by such allegations.

The recent killing of two Pakistanis by a U.S. CIA operative who said they tried to rob him and U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan against al-Qaida leaders added to rising bile and Pakistani paybacks: expulsion of U.S. military trainers, curtailing of CIA operations in the country, for example.

What complexion the future holds for the relationship is anyone's guess. But Washington, despite its anger -- and Pakistan's leadership -- knows the United States and its NATO allies, needs Pakistan. It's needed to control border areas near Afghanistan that the Taliban use as support bases. And Pakistan could play a key role in any negotiated settlement between the Afghan government and the Taliban, which could lead to the withdrawal of international forces.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's ace in the hole in its relations with Washington and U.S. allies: It is the main land route for vital supplies for U.S. and NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan.