Right in the midst of a common fight against terrorism, relations between Pakistan and the US have hit a nadir. The trilateral talks scheduled this month have been postponed for an indefinite period. Instead, the US and Afghanistan have held bilateral talks which could be interpreted as cold shouldering Islamabad. A top American commander in Afghanistan said early this month the US can win in Afghanistan even without the Pakistan Armys help in North Waziristan. The refusal by Islamabad to release Raymond Davis has further strained relations between the two sides. There are reports regarding the scaling down of CIA-ISI cooperation. Keeping in view the situation on the ground, it would be unrealistic for both sides to downgrade the status of their relations.
The US side felt frustrated after calls by President Obama and top officials of his administration failed to get Davis released. In Pakistan, the demand which sounded more like an order was resented because no one was willing to give credence to the stand that Davis was a diplomat. The peremptory calls were thus taken as an affront. As the US pressure increased, so did public resentment. On Pakistans side, the ISI was angry as it discovered that Davis had been in fact a CIA employee and had contacts in the tribal areas. It was asked by the media about how many other US diplomats in Pakistan were actually cloak and dagger operatives? What irked many in Pakistan was that the ISI was caught napping. The question being asked is how come the spy agency whose main duty is to keep track of foreign agents failed in this case. The ISI is reportedly also unhappy over the pressure exerted by the CIA to seek Davis freedom.
Despite the bitterness prevailing between the two spy agencies, the cessation of top level contacts between the two sides seems to be ending. Gen Kayani has met US military leadership including Admiral Mike Mullen at Muscat while ambassador Haqqani has had a formal meeting with Marc Grossman, the new US Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The US and Pakistan have to put behind the frustration created by the Davis affair and upgrade the relations to be better able to fight the terrorists. This is in both countries supreme interests.
