Spymaster Petraeus may inflame ties with Pakistan

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

The US 'objectives' in this region are not anything existentially important to it.

If US objectives in the region are not 'existentially important' to it, then Pakistan will not be the first to blink, and the US will not push the issue to a point where Pakistan has to shoot down drones to begin with.

It could very well give a damn and pack out one fine day. But the reprisals coming after it if it thinks Pakistan is responsible for the defeat is something your country cannot handle..

The US cannot do much more than unilateral sanctions - we dealt with those in the aftermath of our nuclear tests in any case. The US will not be able to get much through the UN at this point.

They will not just be military - but economic and diplomatic as well which I don't think any nation as hard pressed as Pakistan will be able to withstand.

Again, see above.