Pakistan warns U.S. "can't live without us"

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani talks during a press conference in Paris, in this May 4, 2011 file photo. / Getty

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan lashed out at the U.S. for accusing the country's most powerful intelligence agency of supporting extremist attacks against American targets in Afghanistan — the most serious allegations against Islamabad since the beginning of the Afghan war.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar dismissed the claims as mere allegations. She warned the U.S. that it risked losing Pakistan as an ally and could not afford to alienate the Pakistani government or its people.

"If they are choosing to do so, it will be at their own cost," Khar told Geo TV on Thursday from New York City, where she is attending a U.N. General Assembly meeting. "Anything which is said about an ally, about a partner publicly to recriminate it, to humiliate it is not acceptable."

Mullen: Haqqani network a "veritable arm" of ISI
U.S. to Pakistan: Get Haqqani, or we will
Pakistan hits back at U.S. criticism

Khar's comments were first aired in Pakistan on Friday.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani responded to the U.S. criticism by saying Washington was in a tough spot.

"They can't live with us. They can't live without us," Gilani told reporters Friday in the southern city of Karachi. "So, I would say to them that if they can't live without us, they should increase contacts with us to remove misunderstandings."

The Pakistani officials were responding to congressional testimony by the top U.S. military officer about Pakistan.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency Thursday of supporting the Haqqani insurgent network in planning and executing the assault on the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan last week and a truck bomb that wounded 77 American soldiers days earlier.

He also said the U.S. had credible information that Haqqani extremists, with help from the ISI, were responsible for the June 28 attack on the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul and other small but effective assaults.

Even more damning, if confirmed, is a Thursday report in The Guardian which claims the top U.S. NATO commander in the region specifically asked Pakistan's army chief to stop the truck bomb attack on the American base, which U.S. intelligence agencies saw coming.

According to the report, which cites no sources for the information, General Ashfaq Kayani told General John Allen on Sept. 8 he would "make a phone call" in response to the U.S. intelligence pointing to a truck bomb plot in the works.

Two days later, the bomber struck, indicating that Pakistan's army was either unable or unwilling to intervene - if the conversation detailed by The Guardian took place as stated.

Pakistani officials in Islamabad denied the report to CBS News' Farhan Bokhari on Friday. A source close to President Asif Ali Zardari told Bokhari the bombing alone was unlikely to have provoked the new, hard line coming from Washington towards Islamabad.

"I think the Americans have taken a step back and decided to raise the ante significantly," said the source. "There is no single provocation here."

The Haqqani insurgent network is widely believed to be based in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area along the Afghan border. The group has historical ties to Pakistani intelligence, dating back to the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The U.S. military has said the Haqqani network, which has ties to both al Qaeda and the Taliban, poses the greatest threat to American troops in Afghanistan.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Afghanistan
Analysis: Why al Qaeda is still a threat in Afghanistan
Kabul attack a bad sign for Afghan security

Mullen insisted that the Haqqani insurgent network "acts as a veritable arm" of the ISI, undermining the uneasy U.S.-Pakistan relationship forged in the terror fight and endangering American troops in the almost 10-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Pakistan is "exporting violence" and threatening any success in Afghanistan, Mullen told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

• no previous page
• next

1/2

[Coyote1952]

WE will do very well without them period! Let them sink back into the stone age.

[nomoregovt]

I think we would do very nicely without Pakistan. The billions we would save each year would go a long way toward fixing the social security shortfall, not to mention fixing medicare. As far as I can tell they are part of the problem we have with the muslims.

[Fatesrider]

Pakistan is concerned about losing billions in US aid. But considering they apparently have done more to promote terrorism than fight it, I can say with reasonable confidence that with friends like them, who needs enemies?

[usunus]

" You can't live without me ",is curiously a man's threat in many divorces.

[rds13601]

Yes the Pakistanis have suffered; there is no denying that. However maybe there wouldn't be a need for drone strikes if the Pakistan military actively pursued and captured Al Queda and Taliban leaders on the ground and the fact is they are not. An alliance goes both ways. When Americans intercept cell phone traffic that a truck bomb is heading toward a NATO base. The Joint Chief of Staff calls on his Pakistani couterpart to intercept that truck and the Pakistanis don't. 72 Americans were hurt in that attack on that NATO base. That's not an alliance!!

[rafay786]

lol u people r living in a dark world nd r puppets much manipulated by elite powers..... I feel pity on u God bless u all..... however I am proud to b Pakistani....... Pakistan Jindabad (Long live).

[halvsie]

lets review.
we give billions in aid to Pakistan and Israel.
Pakistan assists organizations that try to kill Americans.
Israel sells American technology and weapons to countries that have killed Americans in the past and may still in the future.

well at least we're being consistant.

[fedup12]

by m1ldbrew September 23, 2011 7:23 PM EDT
Pakistanis have lost 35,000 civilians to al Qaeda and Taliban attacks, because of our support to the USA after 911, we have lost a further 3000 soldiers, and ruined our economy for America

===============================================

You people are really upidstay. Pakistanis killing Pakistanis.

I dont blame you for gun crime in America.

Waa waa waa. How about a little wine with your cookies.

[Death_Be_Not_Proud]

Ya Motha!

[nuttyworld]

With friends like Pakistan who needs enemies.

[fedup12]

Yep... Lets keep feeding them money to blow us up.