An Eastern Bazaar

The United States has suffered yet another in a long line of recent fiascoes in connection with Pakistan. Notably, it happened in President Barack Obama’s hometown of Chicago, at the NATO summit, which was seemingly a gathering of friends.

Included among these “friends” was President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan, who, shortly before coming to the U.S., stated that the disagreements with Washington were settled and that the ban on “Afghan transit” will be lifted.

This means that Western troops in Afghanistan will be able to receive shipments via the short and very familiar Pakistani route. And, most importantly, in a year or two the troops will be able to exit via the same route that they used to enter the country: through Pakistan, instead of the circuitous northern route that passes through Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia.

The Southern Corridor was closed after Nov. 26 of last year, when the U.S. Air Force mistakenly attacked a Pakistani checkpoint and killed 24 soldiers and officers. And now it seems that the matter has been closed. After receiving encouraging signals from Islamabad, the White House finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But the Americans reacted too soon. When dealing with the insidious Eastern diplomacy, you can never relax and celebrate in advance. As it turned out, Zardari has not made any concessions but was simply luring the U.S. into Pakistan’s trap.

Islamabad’s plan only became clear in Chicago. In fact, the U.S. was being financially blackmailed. As Zardari clarified, Pakistani transit will resume on new terms: Transporting one container through Pakistan will now cost $5,000, as opposed to the usual $250. Additionally, Washington has to completely stop using drones against Taliban bases in Pakistan.

The U.S. deemed such conditions absolutely unacceptable. Angered, Obama made an unprecedented move. He canceled a scheduled meeting with his Pakistani counterpart. As a result, Zardari had to meet with the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who told him what Washington thinks about Pakistan’s treachery.

Now what? There are two options. The first option consists of banal bargaining — the so-called eastern bazaar, an attempt to bring the price down from $5,000 per container to a more acceptable level. Or, perhaps, the fallback: a northern transit through Russia and the republics of Central Asia, which now also have the opportunity to bargain with Washington, keeping in mind the rates announced by the Pakistanis.