Monday, October 20, 2008

There can be no Afghanistan without Pakistan

We need to get our Afghanistan strategy under control.

The US has just signed a big deal with India, Karzai went to school in India, and the Taliban has trained terrorists that fight against India in the Kashmir. To protect itself, Pakistan cultivates a common "Islamic" identity with Afghanistan. It is no wonder that Pakistan is not entirely committed to getting terrorists out of the treacherous mountain areas on its border with Afghanistan.

The US must provide a combination of good enough carrots and big enough sticks to entice Pakistan to help more. This should simply be charged as a cost of doing business with India. It's worth it, though, because doing what we have to to be friends with India and Pakistan is the way that we protect ourselves from terrorists in Afghanistan and from China. If we allow ourselves to be sucked back into the India v. Pakistan conflict (and if we don't keep that conflict from growing), we will find ourselves battling with Islamists and with China for influence in the region.

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