How are we to take this? Is this a threat that they will use everything they have and pay us back by violating our sovereignty, or does it mean they will use their Nuclear power on us?
If you were in a position to respond what would you do?
Personally I would not make any public statement at all.
I would do the following:
1. Refrain from public comments.
2. Privately convey extreme displeasure to the Pakistani government and make it clear that the U.S. would continue to aggressively protect its regional interests. In other words, drone strikes would continue when necessary. In addition, while aid to Pakistan would continue for the near-term, it would increasingly be tied to Pakistan's performance/cooperation, including efforts to safeguard its nuclear arsenal.
3. Charge the U.S. military with addressing the inherently flawed, single supply route into Afghanistan situation, so that options would be available should Pakistan ultimately bar use of its territory. Although it might be more expensive, an air bridge of the kind that worked with Berlin is one alternative (supply planes would overfly Pakistani territory much as they did East German territory) with Pakistan understanding that its interference would be met by the severest consequences. Other land-based routes also exist, but some degree of cooperation and coordination with Russia could be required given that those areas are in Russia's "Near Abroad." Clearly, the alternatives are more expensive and logistically less desirable, but alternatives exist nonetheless. The trade-offs need to be considered and, if necessary, an alternative would have to be implemented should Pakistan make the current approach difficult to impossible to continue.
Contingency plans should always exist even if they never have to be pursued. Recent U.S. planning has witnessed too little contingency planning, even for obvious situations i.e., the outbreak of insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan (very predictable given the ethnic/tribal divisions in those countries, not to mention their past history of ethnic/tribal animosities).
Needless to say, questions persist as to whether the Karzai regime is capable of building a relatively stable Afghanistan. If Al Qaeda has been sufficiently neutralized, the U.S. should re-assess the degree of its involvement in Afghanistan. Perhaps alternatives short of propping up the Karzai regime might be more feasible. That strategic review could reduce the magnitude of resupply needed for Afghanistan and mitigate one source of possible friction with Pakistan.
