Pakistan Army Rails Against US Ties

The US-Pakistan security alliance has deteriorated so badly that Pakistani officers actually jeered top general Ashfaq Kayani at a town-hall-style meeting last month, demanding to know why Pakistan still supports US policy, officials tell the Washington Post. That kind of open criticism “is something no Pakistani military commander has ever had to face before,” according to one US official; another said Kayani “is fighting to survive.”

“His corps commanders are very strongly anti-US right now, so he has to appease them,” the official said. The US has grievances too; yesterday, lawmakers pressed Robert Gates and Mike Mullen on the matter, expressing outrage over reports that Pakistan had arrested several Pakistanis who had helped the CIA gather intelligence on Osama bin Laden. Mullen urged calm, while Gates offered a blunt assessment of the situation. “Most governments lie to each other,” he said. “That’s the way business gets done.” (More US-Pakistan relations stories.)