• If at all things become difficult, we will just get all our forces back. If Americans refuse to give us money, then okay. I think the next step is that the government or the armed forces will be moving from the border areas. We cannot afford to keep military out in the mountains for such a long period.
• Pakistani Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar • Discussing American aid to the Pakistani military. The U.S. spends about $2 billion per year in military aid to Pakistan, and as we mentioned over the weekend, the U.S. wants to withhold $800 million of that, the stated reason being a response to the Pakistani government’s limiting of visas for U.S. personnel, and removing U.S. military trainers. This is a situation we rather expected, as the discovery of Osama bin Laden within Pakistan put a big strain on relations, and left many Americans wondering what they were paying for. The tone of Mukhar’s reply strikes us, honestly, as pretty snarky and passive-aggressive (acknowledging the possibility of a rough translation), especially in light of the huge sums the U.S. has paid Pakistan for military aid over the past decade or so. This is, as much as anything, an implied threat — give up the money or the Taliban runs wild. source

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