Pakistan officials are currently exercising their sovereignty by recently closing Pakistan’s boarders to U.S and NATO supply troops heading towards Afghanistan. Pakistan closed it’s boarders on Thursday because of the recent drone and helicopter strikes which have killed many Pakistani officials and boarder control officers. The drone strikes have been building the tension between U.S and Pakistan during the past two weeks and it was not until recently that the U.S took responsibility for the drone strikes. According to the New York Times, “the border closing, and the exceptional series of strikes by piloted aircraft, signaled a general increase in tensions between Pakistan and the United States” (NYT). The boarder closing is causing problems for NATO and U.S because of the closed access of the transportation of supplies which need to be moved to Afghanistan. Over 29 NATO supply trucks moving through Pakistan territory towards Afghanistan have been lit on fire and destroyed causing troops in Afghanistan to struggle, waiting for the much needed supplies. BBC news reports that, “NATO supplies have little or no security. Islamabad police chief Kalim Imam said the entire supply operation was "very vulnerable" to such attacks” (BBC News). The attacks are the result of Taliban militants protesting the U.S air strikes and it does not look like they are going to cease “until the supplies have completely stopped” (BBC). Because of the attacks NATO supply lorries are being forced to take a different route to Afghanistan, they “are currently brought into northern Afghanistan via Uzbekistan and Tajikistan but the spokesman declined to say which northern route was being considered” (BBC). Until an agreement can be met it seems as though tensions will continue to run high between U.S, NATO and Pakistani officials resulting in a continuation of the boarder closing.
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