...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
deadly misfire by closing parts of its border with Afghanistan and demanding the US vacate a drone base.
The comments by Sens. Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, and Dick Durbin,...Senator-for-Life from Illinois and Democratic Party Whip. In April 2006, Time magazine identified Durbin as one of
America's 10 Best Senators,so what's that tell you? He was the first United States Senator to support the presidential candidacy of Barack
The campaign's over, JohnObama, then the junior senator from Illinois....
an Illinois Democrat, show how strained Pakistain's relationship with the US, and Congress specifically, has become in recent months.
Lawmakers approve billions of dollars in military and civilian aid for Pakistain with the expectation that its government will help target al-Qaeda operatives and push Afghan gunnies toward peace talks
.
"There's a lot of diplomacy that has to occur and it has to be tough diplomacy in the sense that they need to understand that our support for them financially is dependent upon their cooperation with us," said Kyl, the Senate's No. 2 Republican.
Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, said Pakistain's latest move is further evidence that the US must end its military involvement in the region and bring troops home.
"As difficult as it is to fight our way thru this diplomatic morass between the incompetence and maybe corruption of Afghanistan and the complicity in parts of Pakistain, our soldiers are caught right in the middle of this at a time they are trying to bring peace to the region," Durbin said.
NATO says it is investigating its likely involvement in Saturday's attack, which killed 24 Pak troops along the Afghan border. Afghan officials say their soldiers called for help after being fired upon from the direction of Pak border posts.
Outraged by the attacks and claiming they were unprovoked, Islamabad swiftly closed its border to trucks delivering supplies to coalition troops in Afghanistan and demanded the US vacate within 15 days a base used by American drones.
The blockade is guaranteed to frustrate Congress, already incensed that Pakistain never tipped off the US to the late Osama bin Laden
... who has won the race to that place where we all eventually end up...
's hideout within its borders.
While calling for tougher diplomacy with Pakistain, Kyl said he would stop short of cutting off US aid entirely to Pakistain. He said that severing ties in the past has only led to an increased influence of Islamic gunnies among Pakistain's military ranks.
"It's very important to maintain the relationship for the long haul," he said, without offering more specifics on how that might be done.
Durbin suggested the U.S. back out from the region from a military standpoint.
"We've got to leave it to Afghan forces," he said. Kyl and Durbin spoke on "Fox News Sunday."