We know what Pakistan is. Now we’re just haggling over the price.
The cost of the US-led war effort in Afghanistan is about to rise by $365 million annually under an agreement that would reopen a key NATO supply route through Pakistan that’s been closed for nearly six months.
The accord, which the Pakistani government announced late Tuesday, would revive the transport of vital supplies of food and equipment from Pakistani ports overland to land-locked Afghanistan.
In return, the US-led coalition will pay Pakistan a still-to-be-fixed fee of $1,500 to $1,800 for each truck carrying supplies, a tab that officials familiar with negotiations estimated would run nearly $1 million a day. The officials requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to reveal details of the agreement.
Pakistan closed those supply lines to protest two drone strikes on border security posts. Closing the lines forced the US to move supplies along routes as long as 6,000 miles. Reopening the lines could, among other things, speed up progress in Afghanistan.
The Pakistanis have never explained how it came to be that Osama bin Laden lived for years in a compound in the shadow of its national military academy. A cynic might see Pakistan’s role in the war as a means of extorting billions of dollars in aid from the United States.
It’s paying the Jizya. Where infidels pay muslims for the be allowed to live with muslims in peace(in accordance with the koran).
How about we just push through Afghanistan, chase the taliban across pakistan and crush them between us ans the Indian army? Take the Sherman, Patton scorched earth approach and fight to actually win the war and let the hearts and minds follow along.
Sure, we’ll pay, but first explain how one of the most wanted men in the world lived under your noses. Are they absolutely corrupt or are the absolutely incompetent?
Probably both. Its not really an either/or proposition.
How many cargo ships of Spam does that come to? Let’s start a Spam drive. It’s delicious with lettuce and Miracle Whip™ and the cans are nice to put candles in.
– Obama didn’t just use a drone on Osama.