Pakistan's arrest of CIA informants: The last straw for U.S.-Pakistan relations?

Islamabad and D.C. were already at odds, and now, Pakistan's detention of informants who fed America intel on bin Laden will likely make things worse

Pakistani Army patrol the compound where bin Laden was killed: The country's top military spy agency arrested Pakistani informants who fed information to the CIA.
(Image credit: RAHAT DAR/epa/Corbis)

Pakistan has arrested five informants — one of them a Pakistani Army major — who fed information to CIA spies before the raid in which Osama bin Laden was killed last month. The informants' detention could further damage the troubled relationship between Washington and Islamabad, just as the Obama administration is trying to secure Pakistan's help in preparing for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from neighboring Afghanistan. Is this a sign that U.S.-Pakistan relations are broken beyond repair?

Yes. Pakistan is acting like our enemy: We've been asking for Pakistan's help fighting terrorists in Afghanistan, says Richard Fernandez at Pajamas Media, but could it be that Pakistan is "the real epicenter of terrorism in Southwest Asia"? The Pakistanis won't help monitor al Qaeda suspects; they're "threatening to shut down the drone program"; and now this. Maybe we should treat Pakistan like an enemy instead of an ally.

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