Afpakistan Is A Mess

William Arkin:

The surge is about to hit Pakistan. The top U.S. commander for the Middle East says that the deteriorating situation in the country and the increased violence in the frontier area have prompted Islamabad to accept plans for U.S. forces in the country for the first time since early 2002. Meanwhile, a top counter-terrorism diplomat says the situation has become so dire, the United States cannot afford to wait.

Cummon Bill. Let's call it what it is. We're escalating the war in Pakistan which will play beautifully into the hands of the fundamentalists. Musharraf made a bunch of noise about not wanting American troops in Pakistan, but the bottom line is we're going in. The conventional wisdom is that we need to go in. I disagree.

Everywhere the U.S. goes the situation turns to crap. A limited number of insurgents/fundamentalists will suddenly become a movement with occupation by the U.S. military. Pakistan is fragile as it is, now we're going to put an American face on Musharraf's dependence at a time when the U.S. is hated throughout the region?

We're going to have to go back to square one in the "war on terrorism". Withdrawing American troops and working to support the average Arab citizen (perhaps not supporting suppressive, dictatorial governments?) is the answer, not more troops.