Does this really surprise anyone?
Yes the US is Pakistan's largest military aid donor, if a disaster strikes the US is always one of the biggest and first to assist Pakistan.
However the people of Pakistan aren't really pro-American and the Government knows that even members of parliament are not pro-American. The administration saw what happened to President Musharraf, they know that a vast amount of the population hates America. It doesn't help that the Pakistani Government was close allies with the Taliban until the US invaded.
So with members of the Government who are anti-American and the people of Pakistan not really liking America. Pakistan can't exactly welcome American troops and bombers. I think actions speak louder then words, Pakistan has never engaged American forces purposely. They have never shot down drones or done anything to harm America.
What Pakistan is doing right now is saving face. Pakistan could never allow US soldiers to enter Pakistan officially, it would be seen as a military occupation. Violation of Pakistani sovereignty and the people of Pakistan would be outraged. So it comes as no surprise that the Government would say something like this.
In the end if the US sent another Spec Ops team I'm not sure how Pakistan would deal with it. Fact is while talking tough if they took any action against the US they would be risking the countries stability. At the same time they would have to do something to react to the US attack.
I think that Pakistan is just hoping the US plays along and next time works with Pakistan. Its all show boating , the problem with making these kinds of announcements is when the US does send another Spec Ops team which they are like 80% likely to do so in the future. Pakistan is going to need another way out.
But honestly this isn't Pakistan's first empty threat either, every time their is a missile strike or drone attack in Pakistan the Government condemns it. Every time the Government tries to save face and says something like this, but in all reality its just the Government saving face and trying to maintain public support. If I was America I wouldn't pay to much attention to this, I certainly wouldn't be afraid. But if I was Obama I would definitely worry about the Pakistani people.
If Pakistan's Government fell and an anti-American Government got into power who is to say that they would honor agreements with the US. If another country stepped in to aid Pakistan it could be in America's best interest to avoid such a thing from happening!
Lastly of course Pakistan isn't going to aknowledge that the ISI had anything to do with the attack in Afghanistan. Again to save face in both its civilians and the international community. If Pakistan said "Yes our Government is corrupt and this attack happened because of us"" the international community especially NATO would freak. Then the population of civilians that actually supports the Afghan invasion would also freak.
Denial is the best way to go for Pakistan in that case, of course I am guessing they are investigating the instance to see if they really did play a role. Like I said a lot of Pakistani's supported the Taliban and this network so it wouldn't surprise me at all! But again it would be suicide for Pakistan to admit that such a thing occured!
-JC7
"In God We Trust - In Games We Play " - Joel Reimer
