ALTHOUGH the death of Osama Bin Laden has led to rejoicing in many countries around the world, the US action to eliminate him and the relative openness in which he lived in Pakistan has, again, raised tensions between those two countries. The US had already leveled much criticism at Pakistan for what it viewed as that country's sometime lackluster efforts to rein in extremist Taliban and Al-Qaeda sympathizers who appeared to operate with relative ease near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. Indeed, at times, it seemed as if the US was focusing much of its war effort in Pakistan rather than in Aghanistan. US actions in Pakistan have angered the Pakistanis on numerous occasions, most recently when what was later revealed to be a CIA operative gunned down two men there. The whole truth of that episode may never be known publicly. The CIA operative said that the two men were attempting to rob him, but other sources have said that they were actually Pakistani intelligence agents. Pakistan has also made public its displeasure at the increasing use of drones by the US, unmanned planes overflying Pakistani territory and unleashing missile assaults on suspected Taliban hide-outs. Now, many in the US are questioning how Bin Laden was able to live in such a populated area in a high-security compound without Pakistani officials having knowledge of his presence. President Zadari has spoken in support of the US action and the death of Bin Laden but his government has also issued a statement calling the raid “an unauthorized unilateral action.” The US-Pakistan relationship has always been something of an uneasy alliance. Both countries enjoy the advantages — Pakistan receives huge sums of financial aid from the US, and the US appears to have nearly free rein in conducting intelligence operations in Pakistan —but there are definite pitfalls that continually bring criticism from both sides. Politics, they say, makes for strange bedfellows, and the US and Pakistan are about as different as two countries can be. For the time being, their differences will continue to simmer, but, at one point, it seems certain that one event or another will rupture their relations, perhaps irreparably. __
