Key political risks to watch in Pakistan

Rebecca Conway of Reuters from Islamabad Relations between the United States and its ally Pakistan, already heavily battered, have been pushed to their lowest point in years by a NATO attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on November 26. NATO aircraft struck two military border posts in northwest Pakistan, in the worst incident of its kind since Islamabad allied itself with Washington in 2001 in the war on militancy. Relations were already strained after claims in late September by Admiral Mike Mullen, the former top U.S. military officer, that Pakistan was supporting militant attacks against Afghan and U.S. targets in Afghanistan. The attack sparked fury across Pakistan, with Islamabad rejecting U.S. claims that it was an accident, and demanding U.S. personnel vacate a Pakistani airbase associated with the drone campaign on the country's western border region, a known militant base. Pakistan has closed its borders to trucks carrying supplies through Pakistan to NATO forces in Afghanistan, and it pulled out of an international conference in Germany on the future of Afghanistan, depriving the talks of a key player that could nudge Taliban militants into a peace process as NATO combat troops prepare to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Adding to the uncertainty, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari flew to Dubai on Dec. 6 for medical treatment, sparking speculation of that he may resign, which his office has denied. The domestic political uncertainty and the tense relations with Washington, especially since the killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. Special Forces in May, make the overall environment extremely hostile to foreign investors. Such is the uncertainty surrounding Pakistan's commitment to the U.S-led war on militancy that Congress has suspended $800 million in military assistance to Pakistan.