Over the last two weeks, there have been reports on how the US – Pakistan relations are getting strained further due to widespread presence f US intelligence agencies in Pakistan and continued drone attacks.1 It is being said that this is the lowest point in US – Pakistan relations. “The rupture over Pakistan’s demands that the Americans end drone strikes — which the Obama administration rejected — and scale back their intelligence presence within Pakistan exposed the tentative nature of the alliance forged after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It is increasingly apparent that the two countries have differing, even irreconcilable, aims in Afghanistan.”2 Reports noted that there are major differences of opinions between the two allies on the nature of Afghanistan’s government. While the US wants a strong centralized government in Afghanistan with a large army that can guard its borders. Pakistan on the other hand prefers a loosely governed Afghanistan. Many commentators have suggested that Pakistan prefers a loosely governed Afghanistan so that Pakistan may be able to influence or control areas of Afghanistan via a proxy, such as the Taliban.3

• 1. “Pakistan Tells US It Must Sharply Cut CIA Activities”, The New York Times, April 11, 2011 at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/world/asia/12pakistan.html
• 2. “US Relations with Pakistan falter in Rift over Drone Attacks”, The New York Times, April 17, 2011 at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/world/asia/18pakistan.html
• 3. Ibid