Pakistan has blocked food and water from reaching a remote base used by the United States for its covert drones programme, thereby severely hampering its counter terrorism strategy, according to a senior American official.
Pakistan's military has not recovered from the humiliation of failing to detect an American unilateral raid last month that killed Osama bin Laden, and has reduced or halted co-operation with the US in protest, The Telegraph reports.
The Pakistanis have already blocked the supply of food and water to the base used for the drones, a senior American official told The New York Times, adding that they were gradually "strangling the alliance" by making things difficult for the Americans in Pakistan.
The drones programme, although never publicly acknowledged by the US and repeatedly condemned by Pakistan, is credited with killing a series of high-profile targets.
In 2009, Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed by a missile strike in South Waziristan. And two weeks ago, Harkatul Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) chief Ilyas Kashmiri, a key al-Qaeda commander, was reported dead after a drone attack.
However, Pakistani military and civilian leaders have long criticised the raids, despite privately giving consent.
Last week, the country's senior Army officers released a statement riddled with anti-American rhetoric and threatening action against the drones.
"As far as drone attacks are concerned, Army has repeatedly conveyed to all concerned that these are not acceptable under any circumstances. There is no room for ambiguity in this regard. Government is making necessary efforts in this direction," the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.
The generals have already ordered more than 100 American military trainers to leave the country.
Cyril Almeida, a commentator with The Dawn newspaper, said that Pakistan's "battered" military was reacting in time-honoured fashion by shifting the focus to external threats and imagined enemies in Washington.
"These leaks are really putting pressure on the military," he said. "What we are seeing is the Army high command move even further to the right and further into the embrace of anti-American elements." ANI
