Islamabad, Dec 26(ANI): The US is gearing up to have curtailed ties with Pakistan, which it believes will complicate its efforts to target extremists and provide supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan.
The tensions in US-Pak ties were escalated after Pakistan vowed to review its ties with the US after the deadly NATO airstrike in Mohmand Agency on November 26 that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
But the recent telephonic conversation between US Joint Chief Of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey and Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani assessing Pak-US ties indicated that the latter is determined to maintain ties with Pakistan.
American and Pakistan officials said the United States will be forced to restrict drone strikes, reduce the number of its spies and soldiers on the ground and increase transport cost of providing supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan as a part of their reduced co-operation with Pakistan.
The American aid to Pakistan will also be scaled down, including the continued suspension of over one billion dollar in military assistance and equipment, which was frozen after the Abbottabad raid that killed former Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden on May 2.
"We've closed the chapter on the post-9/11 period. Pakistan has told us very clearly that they are re-evaluating the entire relationship," The New York Times quoted a senior American official, as saying.
US officials said the contours of US-Pak ties would only become clear only after Pakistan completes its review on ties.
The ties will likely focus on limited set of agreements on core priorities - countering terrorism, stabilizing Afghanistan and ensuring the safety of Pakistan's arsenal.
Both the US and Pakistan would likely sign agreements on military cooperation, intelligence sharing and counterterrorism operations, including revamped "kill boxes," the term denoting flight zones over Pakistan's largely ungoverned borderlands, an official said. (ANI)
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