From our partners at The Agonist
Apr 12
WaPo – This country’s Parliament unanimously demanded Thursday that the United States end its long campaign of drone strikes in Pakistani territory, a vital component of President Barack Obama’s strategy against al-Qaida and other militant groups.
But lawmakers, acting after weeks of debate, tacitly allowed the passage of oil, food and other nonlethal goods across the country’s borders to supply NATO troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistan has barred NATO convoys for several months in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes that killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers.
Reflecting anger over the war in Afghanistan, drone attacks and other elements of U.S. policy, about 440 lawmakers supported the recommendations of a national security committee that set out to reconfigure what it called Pakistan’s “terms of engagement” with the U.S. The two countries entered into a counterterrorism partnership shortly after the 9/11 attacks.
The proposals also seek to bar private security contractors and intelligence operatives from working in the country and to ban the shipment of arms and ammunition through Pakistani territory or airspace into Afghanistan.
** The ball is back in the executive’s court
** Pakistan Gives U.S. a List of Demands, Including an End to C.I.A. Drone Strikes
** We blinked, and maybe it’s good
** Supply route closure impedes Afghan withdrawal
From Stars&Stripes
