Can Anybody Play the Tribal Proxy Game?

America has announced a "regional" strategy to win in Afghanistan. Everyone knows that really means getting Pakistan to end their longstanding double game of harming some jihadis to keep America happy while providing aid to other jihadis who cooperate with Pakistan.

In an effort to get Pakistan to destroy the jihadi sanctuaries inside Pakistan that help sustain Afghanistan's jihadis, America should do what I suggested in 2008--start bribing and organizing tribes in Pakistan's tribal border areas to go after the jihadis.

I mentioned this last August (quoting the 2008 post) and still think it has the potential to leverage Pakistani efforts to truly work against the jihadis rather than support them.

After all, Pakistan justifies their Afghanistan operations by their belief they need Afghanistan as a secure rear in their confrontation with India who Pakistan bizarrely believes wants to invade and take over Pakistan.

A campaign as I suggest would not only deprive Pakistan of a compliant Afghanistan deep rear area but might strip away the already restive western frontier areas of Pakistan's tribal regions, leaving Pakistan effectively an Indus River valley entity abutting India.

Threaten that as an end result and maybe Pakistan will recalculate their interests.

#WhyPakistanCan'tHaveNiceThings