Two Sides of the Same Coin

Osama bin Laden’s widows as a turning point? Ever since the deadly attack carried out by the United States against the al-Qaida leader on Pakistani soil, U.S.-Pakistani relations have been more strained than ever. Which explains why Pakistan so publicly refused to grant American investigators direct access to bin Laden’s survivors. Now, they will “of course” allow that — after all, according to Interior Minister Rehman Malik, they are both fighting a war as allies.

But that is something that has recently been cause for serious doubt in Washington. In Islamabad, on the other hand, everyone appears totally surprised by the high-handed American assassination action, and the government has come under strong domestic pressure. Prime Minister Gilani calls accusations of Pakistani cooperation with bin Laden “absurd.”

High-level former security personnel call it all just show because an agreement between both sides had existed for 10 years, giving the United States a virtual blank check for just such a commando operation. The same thing is repeated with regularity concerning the American drone attacks in the areas bordering Afghanistan. There, too, public objection and secret acquiescence are just two sides of the same coin. It’s a geostrategic symbiosis between Washington and Islamabad that’s still stronger than the mistrust between the two nations. Despite all the reservations, the two sides need one another in order to realize their respective political ambitions in the region. And that’s a fact with or without talking to bin Laden’s widows.