Pakistan

Recently a report was issued on the United States' anti-terrorism plan in Pakistan. The report, compiled by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (or GAO), was a scathing indictment of the Bush administration's efforts to rid Pakistan of Al Qaeda and other radical Islamic terrorist threats since 2002. The report specifically stated that the United States has had no continuous, comprehensive plan for anti-terrorism in Pakistan. I quote, “No comprehensive plan for meeting U.S. national security goals in the FATA has been developed, as stipulated by the National Strategy for Combating Terrorism, recommended by the independent 9/11 Commission, and mandated by congressional legislation.”

Immediately, democrats latched onto the reports finding to blast the government, especially the Bush administration, for having diverted precious counterterrorist resources to fight in Iraq when the could have been searching for Bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Pakistan (he is believed to be in hiding in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas or FATA). The White House, without much elaboration, immediately dismissed the report as being a mischaracterization on the part of the Democrats and the reporting committee as a whole. However, partisan politics aside, I wanted to opine on the report’s findings, for I disagree with some of its assessments. And again, I want to do it constructively and as objectively as possible.

Contrary to the current reports findings, I think that the United States has a comprehensive counterinsurgency and counterterror plan for Pakistan in place. I believe that we have consciously chosen to stay low key in Pakistan due to our overwhelming unpopularity amongst the people as a whole. In general, we are on good terms with the Pakistani government, for they are willing to help us in our fight against Al Qaeda and Islamic fundamentalism. However, this good will is not harbored amongst many of the Pakistani people, especially the ones from the tribal areas and frontier territories. In other words, if we were to “invade” an area of Pakistan (like the FATA) as was proscribed by the leading critics of our current policy, the people of Pakistan may be brought down into a nasty civil war, and it is very likely that the current government may not win such a war. This is the last thing that the United States needs in its current war on terror. We do not need another failed Islamic state, especially one that has nuclear capabilities. For instance, one nightmarish scenario of a Pakistani civil war could be an Islamic faction gaining control of a nuclear facility and then launching a nuclear missile at an American base in Afghanistan or in Iraq or even at an American ally in the region; this would be devastating.

Therefore, I think it behooves the United States to continue to run its counterterror operations in Pakistan the way it has been doing it, i.e. by providing limited paramilitary support, logistics and by providing training to the Pakistani government and its military. If anyone has any better suggestions, I would love to hear them (and I am not being facetious).

Here is the Article link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080417/pl_nm/usa_pakistan_gao_dc