Obama refuses to meet Zardari

Anil Narendra

Pak President, Asif Ali Zardari had gone to Chicago to attend the NATO Conference in the hope of mending the deteriorating US-Pak relations and finding a new direction to their relations. But, it appears that he has been unsuccessful in his endeavour. The US President Barak Obama refused to meet Mr. Zardari. Obama clearly said that until and unless an agreement to open the supply route for US forces in Afghanistan is concluded, the meeting would not be possible. With this, hopes of ending the bitterness between the two have also been completely dashed. Even the issue of the use of Pakistan territory as a supply route for the NATO forces in Afghanistan has also been jeopardized. The White House has also confirmed that Obama could not find time to meet President Zardari. As if to add fuel to fire, Barak Obama did not mention the name of Pakistan among the names of nations, to whom he expressed his gratitude for helping in logistic supplies to the forces in Afghanistan. This could clearly be seen as an act of indifference toward Pakistan. On the second and the last day of the Conference, Obama said, 'I am grateful to President Hamid Karzai and also to the officials of Central Asian countries and Russian authorities in providing important transit routes to the ISAF in Afghanistan.' The present tension between these two countries emanates from the US air raid on a Pakistan check post last year, during which 24 Pak soldiers were killed. Following the attack, Pakistan has put a ban on the passage of supply trucks for NATO forces through its territory. The US has invited Zardari to the NATO Conference in the hope that he would agree to open the Pakistan-Afghanistan border for this transit route, but Pakistan has put forward three conditions for opening this supply route and use of its roads. Pakistan wants: US should publicly apologize for the killing of Pak soldiers; review of US policy about drone attacks inside Pakistan territory; and raising the current fee of $ 250 for using Pak roads to $ 5,000. It appears that US is not in a mood to accept these demands of Pakistan. Heads of State and representatives of 50 countries including 28 member countries participated in the two-day NATO Conference. Speaking on the NATO supply issue after the Conference, Obama said, 'we had not expected that the impasse over the NATO supply issue would end, but we have been constantly in touch with Pakistan to resolve this issue'. Obama also said that no doubt, there had been tensions between the two countries for last few months, but it would be in the interest of US as well as Pakistan to work together against the militancy. Obama, however, agreed that the tensions in relations with Pakistan could harm US interests in Afghanistan. The last minute invitation to Zardari had rekindled the hopes that the differences between the countries are being bridged, but it was not so. Zardari had reached Chicago, the home town of Barak Obama hoping to get an opportunity to meet Obama and have direct dialogue with him. But he was not lucky enough to get this opportunity, whereas his Afghan counterpart Karzai could get to interact directly with Obama. The only little time, Zardari was able to snatch to talk to US President, was just the occasion of photo session. Tension still continues. The US has planned to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan by 2014 and we don't think that it would be possible for it to complete this process without Pakistan's help. As such, this tug of war would continue for some more time, negotiations would also continue and finally it would be the US, who would have to yield.