High-level talks on ending a diplomatic deadlock between the United States and Pakistan have ended in failure over Pakistani demands for an apology from the United States, The New York Times reported Saturday.
The newspaper said US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman left Islamabad on Friday night with no agreement.
The departure followed two days of discussions aimed at patching up the damage caused by a US air strike last November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the Afghanistan border, the report said. The United States refuses to apologize for the strike.
The United States and Pakistan disagree about the precise sequence of events in the deadliest single cross-border attack of the 10-year war in Afghanistan. Pakistan denies shooting first, and has accused the Americans of an intentional attack on its troops.
The administration of President Barack Obama had been seriously debating whether to say “I’m sorry” to Pakistan’s satisfaction — until April 15, when multiple simultaneous attacks struck Kabul and other Afghan cities, The Times said. “What changed was the 15th of April,” the paper quotes an unnamed senior administration official as saying. US military and intelligence officials concluded that the attacks were directed by the Haqqani network.
That swung the raging debate on whether Obama or another senior US official should go beyond the expression of regret that the administration had already given, and apologize, the paper said. Without the apology, Pakistani officials say they cannot reopen the NATO supply routes into Afghanistan that have been closed since November, the report said.
The United States, in turn, is withholding from Pakistan between $1.18 billion and $3 billion (2.26 billion euros) of promised military aid. The continuing deadlock does not bode well for Pakistan’s attendance at a NATO meeting in Chicago in three weeks, assuming it is even invited, The Times said. US administration officials acknowledged Friday that the stalemate would not be resolved quickly, the paper noted.
USA is finding it very hard to apologize openly on the Salala incident. Just a couple of weeks ago they had tacitly conveyed the impression that due apology will be extended once the NATO supply is restored. Now Obama administration is backtracking keeping in mind the forthcoming elections. However, Pakistan is now in a very difficult position as the Parliament has taken a decision of linking restoration of NATO supplies with a formal apology and no further drone attacks inside Pakistan without the consent of Pakistan government. This dead lock if not resolved quickly will have very serious repercussions for the entire region. I hope that better sense will prevail.
Pakistan has survived without US aid in the past on several occasions, but can NATO ensure its endgame in Afghan without restoration of its supply route, is a question that bamboozles the US at the moment. If the vociferous opposition from the mainstream opposition would not have been there, this present fragile PPP led coalition government would have long succumbed to the US pressure long back. Hats off to the opposition for this display of national respect.
For all the talk of Pakistan not needing the US aid, why are they doing the negotiations if that were true?? And it is insane of the Pak diplomats to think that they have any bargaining chips anymore… Beggars cant be chosers and uncle sam is no santaclaus to give gifts to the whole world!!!
I dont believe it, they must have reached to a certain agreement and fooling both nations
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