Escalation

As if it were having no disagreements at all with Islamabad, the United States killed four suspected insurgents yesterday in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. Washington has significantly increased its use of unmanned combat drones against al-Qaida, the Taliban and the Pakistani Hakkani network, something that has appreciably contributed to a worsening of already-shaky bilateral relations between the two nations.

Not only that, but the U.S. is considering placing the Islamist Hakkani organization, with its estimated 15,000 insurgents, on its list of terrorist organizations, besides already having placed financial sanctions on one of its commanders. Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen publicly accused the Pakistani security service (ISI) of cooperating with the terrorists in the mid-September attack on the U.S. Embassy and ISAF headquarters in the middle of the Kabul diplomatic quarter. That marked a new verbal escalation in bilateral relations already marked by mistrust between two such important partners in the war against terror.

The denial from Islamabad came almost immediately — along with the warning that any further Washington pressure would force Pakistan to defend its national interests “at any price.” A closed-door emergency meeting between the government and opposition parties was quickly held. Whatever the outcome of that private meeting, the Pakistani media has long been speculating openly about the possibility of an outright U.S. invasion.