Pakistan’s leader spurs worry on health, future

Afghan-bound tankers torched

December 09, 2011|By Karen DeYoung and Simon Denyer, Washington Post

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on Pakistan to continue… (thierry charlier/AFP/Getty…)

BRUSSELS - The Obama administration has “no reason to speculate’’ about the health or political future of President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday, adding that US officials “expect that he will receive the treatment that he is seeking and then be able to return in full health to his duties.’’

Zardari left Pakistan on Tuesday for Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, where aides said he has been receiving medical care for a heart ailment. His departure sparked rumors that he intends to resign.

The speculation is grounded in strong domestic criticism of the Islamabad government’s ties with the United States after the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a US airstrike near the Afghanistan border almost two weeks ago.

Since the airstrike, Pakistan has closed supply routes that allow US and coalition military convoys to cross into Afghanistan. Yesterday, more than 20 Afghanistan-bound fuel tankers were torched by assailants near the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, the Associated Press reported.

In an interview this week, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said that new agreements were being negotiated with the Obama administration to ensure that the two countries “respected each other’s red lines’’ regarding sovereignty and rules of engagement along the border.

Pakistan’s demands include a smaller CIA footprint in the country and more information on what US intelligence agents are doing there; more control over and information about drone strikes; and a greater role for Pakistan in Afghanistan’s reconciliation efforts.

In a statement, Pakistan’s cabinet “expressed its full support for the government to press upon the NATO and the US to frame new parameters of engagements based on mutual respect and the national interests ensuring sovereignty of Pakistan.’’

A US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that security deals with Pakistan had never included written agreements and that the administration had received no specific new demands.