THAT Pakistan was invited to and President Zardari participated in the Chicago summit is no small consolation. Not participating would have sent a terrible signal to the world community, particularly after the boycott of the Bonn conference last December. Not being invited would have confirmed that the international community increasingly views Pakistan as a scofflaw that cannot be reasoned with. And while a one-on-one meeting between Presidents Zardari and Obama was avoided by the American side because no deal on the reopening of the Nato/Isaf supply route was forthcoming, Pakistan’s importance in the withdrawal phase of the war in Afghanistan was reaffirmed by Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Overall, it appears that the international community is still by and large willing to engage Pakistan — provided that the Pakistani side works with the international community to help stabilise Afghanistan and to address some of the internal security challenges that Pakistan has failed to come to terms with as yet.

Nevertheless, the continuing wrangling over a US apology for the Salala attacks and a new fee structure for Nato/Isaf containers epitomise the problems that are detracting from the larger strategic issues at stake in the region. With the focus in Chicago on the withdrawal phase in Afghanistan and the timeline for the reopening of the supply route through Pakistan, Pakistani officials somehow saw fit to once again raise the issue of an apology over Salala. Was this pandering to a domestic audience in Pakistan, a way of shoring up the fight for more money for utilisation of the supply route or a genuine demand by Pakistan reflecting the inflexibility of some inside, and close to, the security establishment?

As for the haggling over the price of the supply route, inexplicable as it seems but the Pakistani position really does seem to be ultimately about money — just a few hundred million dollars a year. Perhaps the negotiators on the Pakistani side are expecting aid and other reimbursements from the US to slow down and so are hoping to make up at least some of the difference through increased fees and tariffs on the ground supply route. But even if Pakistan does succeed in exponentially increasing the money flowing to the national exchequer for use of the supply route, is that worth the price Pakistan will likely pay in terms of lost goodwill and sympathy? What appears to be happening in Pakistan is a paralysis of sorts: the security establishment and the political government seem too afraid to break from positions they publicly took without necessarily thinking them through. It’s time for some statesmanship in Pakistan.