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Islamabad, April 15(ANI): Pakistan and the United States are locked in an uneasy embrace, where they do not trust each other but need each other’s help, resulting in a tug of war between the two allies in the ongoing war on terror, an editorial in a Pakistani newspaper has said.

“Since Davis’ arrest, Pakistan’s ISI had been hoping to use it as a bargaining chip to renegotiate the CIA-ISI relationship carved through the one-sided opening provided by General Pervez Musharraf to the Americans in the aftermath of 9/11 to come out of international isolation he was facing for removing a democratically elected government through a military coup,” the Daily Times editorial said.

In the meeting held in Washington, Pakistan had “put the pre-condition of limiting the scale of drone attacks for resuming intelligence cooperation with the US” in the war against terror, which was stalled following the arrest of CIA contractor Raymond Davis in Lahore on January 27.

However, the editorial said that it is “hard to imagine that the camel in the Arab’s tent will leave voluntarily,” adding that the April 13 drone attack at Angoor Adda in South Waziristan was a “clear indication of the US thinking.”

Pakistan has lodged a protest with the US Ambassador to Islamabad, and public demonstrations have been held from time to time against predator strikes, whipping up the rhetoric that Pakistan should stop logistical support for the US forces stationed in Afghanistan, but this issue is not so simple, the editorial noted.

“It seems unlikely that the US would rollback its presence or operations as long as it sees them serving its interests in the region,” it said.

Though Pakistan had once closed its Torkhum border crossing in retaliation against NATO helicopter incursions into Pakistan’s tribal areas last year, stranding hundreds of containers and fuel tankers carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan, in reality Pakistan does not have this option, it added.

“Given its history as a client state, Pakistan’s economy is heavily dependent on aid from Washington,” the editorial said.

“Pakistan is caught between a rock and a hard place and it would take a real test of wits of Pakistan’s security establishment to find a way out. In fact, the two sides are locked in an uneasy embrace where they do not trust each other but need each other’s help,” it added.

The editorial said that presently, a tug of war is going on between both sides, and only time will tell which way things would settle. (ANI)