Analyst: US uncomfortable in relations with Pakistan

“The closure of some of the USAID projects in Pakistan clearly indicates that the US is not comfortable working with Pakistan,” Naveed Ahmed, Pakistani investigative journalist and political analyst, said in an interview.

The Obama Administration has reportedly decided to ‘drastically’ cut back the number of aid projects inside Pakistan because of the concerns in Washington that the $2.6 billion annual aid budget was mostly wasted while anti-US sentiments continued to rise across the country.

“Pakistanis are confident that we don’t need US help on some of the sectors,” Ahmed noted, adding, “Pakistan is not perturbed at the closure or shrinking of USAID system in Pakistan.”

Some US officials believe that elements of the Pakistani government continue backing militants who are fighting US troops in Afghanistan.

Relations between Washington and Islamabad hit an all-time low after US-led airstrikes by the Western military alliance of NATO killed 24 Pakistani soldiers near the Afghan border in northwestern Pakistan in late November 2011.

In retaliation, Pakistan closed ground supply routes through the country to the US-led forces in Afghanistan and ordered all US personnel to vacate the Shamsi airbase in the southwestern province of Balochistan that was used to launch assassination drone attacks.

On Thursday, Pakistan's parliament unanimously approved new guidelines for ties with the United States. The guidelines demand an end to US assassination drone strikes on the Pakistani territory.