The Obama administration's point man for counterterrorism, Daniel Benjamin, has said that America's relationship with Pakistan "is very complex," even as Congress has said its patience with Islamabad "is wearing thin."
Benjamin, testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, asked if the administration is satisfied that after the incident last November when NATO forces killed 24 Pakistan soldiers in a strike in the Afghan/Pakistani border, were now back on track in terms of cooperation and collaboration with respect to counter-terrorism, said, "As Secretary (of State, Hillary) Clinton said, this is a very complex relationship that we have with Pakistan."
And, he acknowledged that "there is no question that there has been something of a pause that has been caused by the tragic incident," but noted that "we are hopeful that the Pakistani parliament has concluded its deliberations that we can continue to build the relationship and to get over the tensions of the past."
Benjamin said, "We know that this won't be easy -- there are lots of contentious issues -- but we believe that we are going again in the right direction."
However, when Congressman Gerald Connolly asked pointedly if Pakistan was cooperating, Benjamin shot back, "On a number of issues, they certainly are."
But the lawmaker ridiculed this assertion by Benjamin, noting that the Pakistani parliament had unanimously demanded an end to all US drone strikes inside Pakistani territory, and declared, 'If they are cooperating with us, that seems to fly in the face of cooperation."
Benjamin said, "We are still studying the resolution that the Pakistan parliament passed and we are engaging in talks with the government to see what the implications of that are."
"Of course, this is a program that we don't discuss in public forums," he said, "and so, I am afraid, I can't go beyond that."
Connolly, refusing to let Benjamin off the hook, asserted, "Without discussing the program, let's just discuss the policy when another legislative body unanimously does something that would suggest that certainly at least in the legislative side of the government they've taken a pretty firm position of non-cooperation."
"It's not a classified matter that the United States has deployed drones both in Pakistan and across the border. Should the Congress of the United States not read into that a resolve to end cooperation at least with respect to the deployment of that technology," he said.
Benjamin, however, said, "My own view sir, is that the prudent thing to do is to allow us to have a conversation with the Pakistani government, and to see how it wishes to act on the basis of the resolution, which I believe is non-binding."
Connolly, far from being convinced, shot back that while the administration is counseling patience, "patience is wearing thin in the Congress."
