The White House has archived an online petition that sought to designate Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism. The petition, which was initiated by the Indian community in the US was archived claiming that it did not meet the "signature requirements". Launched last week, the petition had amassed over 1,00,000 signatures in just five days and by Monday it had scored more than 600,000 signatures and is currently the most popular petition on the site.

With its geographical proximity and ties with the US, Pakistan has been for better part of one-and-a-half decade performing the role.

With having extended their troops stay in Afghanistan indefinitely, Washington cannot afford to shoot themselves in the foot by distancing themselves from Pakistan.

It should also be noted that US, which is the world's largest weapons exporter has considerable 'business interests' in the country. By declaring it a state sponsor of terrorism, US will have to let-go billions of dollars from this trade, which is an unlikely scenario to happen considering how strong the weapons lobby is.