Sunday, July 13, 2008

The Third Choice

Pakistan won't let us use our military inside Pakistan to hunt al Qaeda, since it is a matter of state sovereignty as far as they're concerned:

"Our government's policy is that our troops, paramilitary forces and our regular forces are deployed in sufficient numbers. They are capable of taking action there. And any foreign intrusion would be counterproductive," he said Saturday. "People will not accept it. Questions of sovereignty come in."

The United States has grown increasingly frustrated as al-Qaida, the Taliban and other militants thrive in Pakistan's remote areas and in neighboring Afghanistan, and has offered U.S. troops to strike at terror networks. Critics in Washington also have expressed frustration with the new Pakistani government's pursuit of peace deals in the region.


But Pakistan--despite their claims--will not, in fact, press hard enough in the frontier regions to seriously threaten al Qaeda's safe haven.

But if our military can't go in and the Pakistanis can't win, that doesn't mean we are out of choices.

I'm just guessing here, but when the other choices are ruled out this third choice doesn't seem so fanciful.