ERIC SCHMITT In the face of strained relations between US and Pakistan,American officials have acknowledged the end of an intense post-9/11 cooperation between the two countries and are gearing up for a limited counter-terrorism alliance with Islamabad. Under the new restricted alliance,US will have to deal with limits on number of drone strikes and reduced spy levels in Pakistan,nearly two dozen American and Pakistani officials said. US aid to Pakistan will also be reduced sharply,they said. Weve closed the chapter on the post-9/11 period, said a senior US official,who requested anonymity to avoid antagonising Pakistani officials. Pakistan has told us very clearly that they are re-evaluating the entire relationship. US officials say that the relationship will endure in some form,but the contours will not be clear until Pakistan completes its wide-ranging review in the coming weeks. The shift in relations comes after a US airstrike killed 26 Pakistani soldiers near the Afghan border last month. Whatever emerges will be a shadow of the sweeping strategic relationship that Richard C Holbrooke,President Obamas special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan,championed before his death a year ago. Most likely a much narrower set of agreements will be settled upon countering terrorists,stabilising Afghanistan and ensuring the safety of Pakistans nuclear arsenal that Pakistan will want spelled out in writing. The first step,officials said,will likely be step-by-step agreements on military cooperation and counterterror operations,including revamped kill boxes, the term for flight zones over Pakistan where drones will be allowed to hunt militants. Nothing is happening on counterterrorism right now, said a Pakistani official. It will never go back to the way it was. With Pakistan taking a seat on the UNSC for two years beginning next month,officials argued that too much was at stake to rupture ties completely. But another Western diplomat put it more bluntly: Its a fairly gloomy picture. General Martin E Dempsey,Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff,asked the Pakistani army chief,Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani,in a phone call Wednesday if the relationship could be repaired,a person briefed on the conversation said. General Kayani said he thought it could,but that Pakistan needed some space.
