Photo Gallery A History of Troubled US-Pakistani Relations
After the 9/11 attacks, the United States forged a closer alliance with Pakistan. Osama bin Laden was thought to be hiding in nearby Afghanistan or the border regions, and the United States needed Pakistan's help if it was to supply its troops and wage this so-called "war on terror." Over the last 10 years, the US has given Pakistan more than $18 billion (12.4 billion euros) in military and civilian aid.
From the very beginning, the partnership between the US and Pakistan has been a marriage of convenience. Here, President Obama stands with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
In Pakistan's nearly 64-year history, there has been a series of alternating periods of cooperation and discord with the United States. In 1990, the US withheld a delivery of F-16 fighter jets that Pakistan had already paid for to punish the country for doggedly expanding its nuclear program. In the fall of 2001, US-led forces toppled the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
But now that Osama bin Laden has been found and killed on Pakistani soil, many suspect that Pakistani officials had knowledge of bin Laden's hideout. There is a growing suspicion in the West that Pakistan's notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency might have known about it. Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, ran the ISI between 2004 and 2007.
Still, even after the raid that killed bin Laden, the two countries need to somehow maintain relations: Pakistan needs the US for its economic aid, and the US needs Pakistan because it is home to the most important routes for supplying the war in Afghanistan. Here, supporters of a hardline pro-Taliban party shout anti-US slogans during a protest in Quetta on the day bin Laden's death was announced.
