WASHINGTON - The US and Pakistani talks on a new counterterrorism partnership and other issues are held up by the impasse over an American apology for the deaths last year of 24 Pakistani troops, a major newspaper reported Wednesday, citing officials from both countries.The Wall Street Journal said the dispute over an apology for the Nov 26 deaths - which Pakistan has demanded but which the White House has refused to give - has “widening implications”.It is delaying a deal to reopen critical supply routes for US and Nato troops in Afghanistan, US and Pakistani officials say. The dispute also makes reaching a deal on counterterrorism cooperation that much harder, the newspaper said.Senior US officials in recent months have quietly sounded out their Pakistani counterparts about negotiating a broad accord intended to give Islamabad a greater role in what has largely been a unilateral US drone campaign against Pakistan-based militants, WSJ said, citing participants in the preliminary talks.The proposals call for a joint military campaign against militants that would incorporate US drones as well as Pakistani F-16s and ground forces, WSJ said, citing those officials say.The Central Intelligence Agency, which pilots the hunter-killer drones in Pakistan, invited the new head of ISI Lt-Gen Zahirul Islam to Washington last month to discuss counterterrorism cooperation, but the visit was postponed, reflecting the two countries’ fraught relations, according to The Wall Street Journal.A partnership with Pakistan on counterterrorism operations is critical, the paper says, to ensure that the US can keep the pressure on Qaeda and its allies as American and international forces gradually pull out of Afghanistan. Without a deal, they say, Pakistan could move to block CIA drone flights.Pakistan has publicly called for the US spy agency to halt all drone attacks on its territory but it hasn’t taken any tangible steps to stop the flights. “The Pakistanis have in recent months grown so frustrated that they have explored options to counter the drones, including shooting them down and mounting a legal challenge to the programme in the World Court as a violation of international law and of the United Nations Charter,” WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter.Senior US and Pakistani officials acknowledge the difficulty of forging a real counterterrorism partnership given deep-seated Pakistani public opposition to US drone operations.Reflecting its frustration with Pakistan, the White House has authorised stepped up CIA strikes in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan in recent weeks, the report said.The hurdles to any deal are great, both sides acknowledge. Vali Nasr, a former top Obama administration adviser on Pakistan, said the current US strategy of “pressure, pressure and more pressure” is unlikely to lead to a “grand bargain” on the drone programme and counterterrorism. “We can’t even get out of the gate with an apology.”Moreover, officials say talks on a counterterrorism deal setting out the roles of US and Pakistani forces would be complicated by disagreements between the countries over which militant groups should be targeted, officials say.While US officials believe Pakistan would consent to US drone strikes targeting top Qaeda leaders and Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, which is battling the Pakistani government, Islamabad has so far balked at strikes against the Haqqani network, which is responsible for attacks against US forces in Afghanistan, the report said.F-16sTo try to address Pakistanis’ concerns that the drone strikes impinge on their sovereignty, US officials have raised the possibility of a more collaborative approach under which US drone operations could be conducted in concert with strikes from Pakistan’s fleet of F-16s.The US would, in turn, share more intelligence with Pakistan to support operations by its air and ground forces, officials say. Intelligence sharing has been hampered in the past because of US concerns that Pakistan will tip off wanted militants before the strikes take place.The Obama administration has made clear that drone strikes will continue to target what remains of Qaeda’s network in the tribal areas of Pakistan, whether Islamabad agrees or not. But US officials involved in the preliminary discussions believe the Pakistani government would be more receptive to cooperating if those operations were seen as part of a broader campaign supporting Pakistani forces. Officials said such a strategy could allow the Pakistanis to argue that the drone attacks aren’t an affront to their sovereignty because they directly benefit Islamabad.Advocates of such an arrangement acknowledge that reaching a deal may be a “long shot” in the near-term, but they want negotiations to begin.US officials said President Barack Obama was wary of apologizing to a country that continues to harbor militants. Such an apology at the height of a presidential campaign could expose him to criticism from Republicans.The US officials say they believe Pakistan postponed Lt. Gen. Zahir’s visit to Washington because the government wants to settle other outstanding differences, including over the reopening of Nato supply routes into Afghanistan, before tackling thorny counter-terrorism issues, encompassing the drone programme. The Pentagon said this week that it pulled US negotiators.Sherry RehmanPakistan’s ambassador to the US, Sherry Rehman, said the lack of an apology is holding up counterterrorism discussions. “We are committed to working with the international community to bring stability to the region, and this includes the US, of course,” she said.“The apology is holding up important discussions in many areas, including a broader conversation on counterterrorism cooperation. I hope we resume productive cooperation in many areas, but all of it will have to pass the test of transparency. Drone attacks need to cease, especially since most of al Qaeda has been destroyed, that too with our active cooperation.”A US official said there “there’s always room for discussion” with the Pakistanis on ways they can partner with the US and “get more involved in the defence of their own country from terrorists.” But the official said progress in this area tends to “happen incrementally” and that there were no active negotiations “when it comes to conducting the counterterrorism operations needed to protect the US and its interests.”A Pakistani official said a counterterrorism programme using Islamabad’s F-16s and the US drones would only be acceptable if the Pakistanis were involved with the operations of both. The F-16s could be used in relatively unpopulated areas.The Pakistani official said the ISI chief will visit the US when his schedule allows, and that a visit is expected in the near future. A US official was quoted as saying: “The ball’s in their court. We’re ready to have him back.”

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