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Culture & Religion

The Truth about American-Pakistani Relations

The NATO air attack that killed at least two dozen Pakistani soldiers at the weekend will worsen the already deep American-Pakistani rift and could spark more tit-for-tat retaliation.
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The NATO air attack that killed at least two dozen Pakistani soldiers at the weekend reflected a fundamental truth about American-Pakistani relations when it comes to securing the unruly border with Afghanistan: the tactics of war can readily undermine the broader strategy that leaders of both countries claim to share.

What’s the Big Idea?

The question now, as one senior American official put it, is “what kind of resilience is left” in a relationship that has sunk to new lows time after time this year–with the arrest in January of a C.I.A. officer, Raymond Davis, the killing of Osama bin Laden and the deaths of many Pakistani soldiers.

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