(Image Source: Foreign Policy)

BY SAMUEL JOSEPH

ANCHOR ALEX HOLLY

Between Pakistani protests over U.S. drone attacks and the killing of Osama bin Laden near a Pakistani military academy, tension between the two countries is quickly rising. The latest move -- Pakistan has announced it wants to reduce American troop presence to the quote- “minimum essential level.”

Sky News says that would be disastrous.

“This would be catastrophic for the continued war against al Qaeda because, of course, Aymen al Zawahiri out at large somewhere in Pakistan and possibly some of the other potential future leaders of al Qaeda in Pakistan.”

Al Jazeera reports, despite Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s calls for unity-- recent events have been the most devastating strikes to diplomatic relations yet.

“Still, there is the very strong sense that president Asif Ali Zardari’s government has let Washington down on its top national security issue. This, the latest and perhaps most damaging blow to an already fragile relationship.”

And The New York Times reports, the Pakistani military is prepared to intervene in any further U.S.-led raids within its borders.

“Calling the American raid a ‘misadventure,’ General Kayani told the Pakistani reporters that another, similar, raid would be responded to swiftly...”

But the Financial Times reports- the raid and the drone attacks have been successful and Washington wants to keep up that momentum. A U.S. diplomat tells the newspaper...

“...a likely outcome of the raid on Abbottabad, the al-Qaeda leader’s hiding place, was that the US was likely to shift to using the ‘stick’ rather than carrots in its relationship with the Pakistan military, as it seeks results in fighting militancy.”

The latest drone attack by American forces reportedly killed 15 militants along Pakistan’s border.