Nato summit: US-Pakistan rift widens over supply lines into Afghanistan

[xchrom]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/21/nato-us-pakistan-supply-lines


Asif Ali Zardari has met the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, at the Nato summit but Obama will not sit down with Pakistan's president. Photograph: Bob Strong/Reuters

A rift between the US and Pakistan appears to be widening at the Nato summit in Chicago – a dangerous development that could undermine Barack Obama's hopes for an orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The US has said repeatedly that Pakistan holds the key to the future of the region but relations between Obama and President Asif Ali Zardari have deteriorated in a standoff over supply routes to Afghanistan.

Pakistan closed the routes after a US air strike killed two dozen Pakistani troops in November.

Obama is refusing to see Zardari, possibly because he arrived in Chicago without a deal in his pocket on reopening the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to US transport. A White House spokesman said no bilateral meeting between Obama and Zardari at the Nato summit was scheduled.

[FarCenter]

1. They just want to increase the price per load from $250 to $5000

I don't see what the problem is?

Money doesn't usually concern the DoD, since there is no price too high to pay for our security.