A quick review of the recent breakdown in Pakistani-American relations:

Last Saturday a NATO airstrike reportedly killed 24 Pakistani troops located in military bases on Pakistani soil.  The exact details of the situation are still unknown: the Pakistanis are claiming that the assault was completely unprovoked, while (admittedly anonymous) Afghan sources claim that NATO troops were returning fire.  Either way, the population of Pakistan is enraged – to the point where they’re burning the President in effigy* – and NATO forces are worried about our allies the Pakistanis taking this opportunity as an excuse to step up reprisal attacks on NATO troops in Afghanistan. Which, if true, would be even more offensive than the burning in effigy.

Now, I could write about domestic politics at this point; and I could also write about how this showdown may have been inevitable from the start.  But the real, immediate point here is: one major piece of fallout from this incident is that critical NATO resupply convoys to Afghanistan have been stopped at the Pakistani border.  The administration needs to make this clear that this is unacceptable.  Because it is.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*They can just go ahead and stop that, by the way.  Now.