American drone attacks killed 21 people in Pakistan’s tribal areas this week.
The deaths come after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apologized for the killing of over 20 Pakistani soldiers by American troops in November last year.
Tensions have been high between the US and Pakistan since the November incident during which US Apache helicopters opened fire on Pakistani military outposts.
Bitter recrimination followed the attack and led to the closure of NATO supply routes through Pakistan.
The killings also reignited a call for the cessation of drone strikes, which have killed an estimated 2,000 people in Pakistan alone since the Obama administration took office.
Despite the deterioration of relations between the two countries, the US continues to undertake drone strikes in south-western Pakistan where militants cross the border to fight against the American presence in Afghanistan.
Locally however the drone strikes are seen as undermining Pakistani sovereignty.
A movement within the Pakistani parliament has called for an end to drone strikes but is yet to pass anything into law and meanwhile the US continues to assert the necessity of the strikes.
The apology from Secretary Clinton came in tandem with an announcement that supply routes through Pakistan will again be open to NATO forces free of charge.
The announcement was met by protests in Pakistani cities, with demonstrators saying that the NATO ground presence undermines security in their country.
Seeming to back up those claims, the Taliban has promised to attack American supply convoys in Pakistan.
On Saturday Secretary Clinton was herself across the border, meeting with Afghani President Hamid Karzai in Kabul.
The Secretary of State announced that Afghanistan will henceforth be regarded as a major non-NATO ally.
This puts Afghanistan on a similar footing with regional American allies Pakistan, Egypt, and Israel, making it easier to buy American defence equipment and allows Afghanistan to benefit from a series of American defence efforts including counterterrorism training.
The designation signals the Obama administration’s intent to avoid the appearance of “abandoning” Afghanistan as the US works toward its goal of a full withdrawal of troops by 2014.
