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U.S.-Pakistani relations may be perennially tense, but the alliance has enabled the U.S. to train Pakistani forces and launch drone strikes in an effort to prevent militants in northwestern Pakistan from attacking American troops in Afghanistan or coordinating terrorist attacks overseas. According to The New York Times, however, the relationship may be teetering on collapse.

The Times is reporting that General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Pakistan's military chief, has asked 335 C.I.A. officers and Special Operations forces--including all C.I.A. contractors--to leave the country. Kayani has also called for an end to drone strikes and requested more information about C.I.A. covert operations (U.S. officials have not confirmed the Times report). In interviews with the Times, Pakistani and American officials pointed to Pakistan's arrest of C.I.A. contractor Raymond Davis--who killed two Pakistanis in January--as the proximate cause for Kayani's demands. Davis was released in March after the victims' families received so-called "blood money," sparking anti-American protests in Pakistan.

But the Times and other news outlets also cite more fundamental reasons for Pakistan's growing unease with U.S. counterterrorism operations in the country: