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As US frustration with Pakistan's six-month blockade NATO supply routes increases, Islamabad is growing worried that their government's negotiating strategy could globally isolate their country completely. President Asif Ali Zardari recently said in a speech that 'disengagement with the world was not a democratic option'. Later, he urged "the international community to also take Pakistan 's domestic compulsions and national interest into account when taking stock of the country's role in efforts against extremism and terrorism". Zardari then explained why Pakistan painted itself into a corner at the Chicago Summit- the government had to change the policy decision of opening the NATO supply route "because the Salala incident had necessitated a review". According to an editorial in The Express Tribune, Pakistan first played up the Salala incident and demanded an apology, but when it got close to getting one, the 'honour' hype overwhelmed the country. Thereafter, other unanticipated factors intervened, such as US President Barack Obama got sensitised over the apology in the midst of his re-election campaign, and the Pentagon's disagreement over his Pakistan policy became intense. According to the paper, Pakistan is not like Iran and cannot afford to roar like a lion when, unlike Iran , it is sunk in a colossal energy deficit. After the national paroxysm against 'unfair' treatment, Pakistan is now realising that there is a limit to how much it can go on playing the "frontline state" card and telling the world it cannot move an inch on Afghanistan unless Pakistan's spoiler's role is recognised and it is accordingly appeased, the editorial said. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has tried to break out of this latest phase of lethal isolation by saying that Islamabad was faced with alienating, not only the US, but also scores of other nations taking part in the NATO operation in Afghanistan and that Pakistan could not afford to offend them all.

Pakistan fears becoming globally isolated