You know, our relationships with a number of countries out there are what I would gently refer to as complex. And just to take Pakistan as an example, if you had told me two and a half years ago that Pakistan would have 140,000 troops in the west, pulled from the Indian border, that they would have suffered thousands of casualties in the war in the FATA (Pakistan Federally Administered Tribal Areas) and elsewhere, that they would have driven the Taliban and al-Qaida out of South Waziristan and Swat, I'd have said that's not going to happen. But it has.
They allow our -- huge percentage of our support and sustenance comes through Pakistan, both ground and air. And those have -- those lines of communication have stayed open. They tinker with them every now and then just to get our attention, but they've really stayed open. And even with the development of the Northern Distribution Network, they're still vital to us.
At the same time, there's no question that they hedge their bets. Their view is that we have abandoned them four times in the last 45 years. And they're still not sure we're going to stay in the region. They saw us leave after the Soviets were thrown out of Afghanistan in 1989, 1988. And they're not confident we won't leave again when we've accomplished our mission in Afghanistan.
So we just have to keep working at it, and on both sides. I will tell you that the relationship cross border in terms of going after people has gotten steadily better in terms of being the hammer and the anvil with the Pakistanis being active on one side and our forces and the Afghan forces on the other.
So I would say it's a relationship we just have to keep working at.
Those are good words to keep in mind even as we recognize that Pakistan is not the ally we'd like it to be. My basic view is that it is better to have a 60% ally rather than have a 100% enemy. Or, put another way, don't let the pursuit of the perfect be the enemy of the good. I try to have some sympathy for Pakistan's difficult position, although so many of their problems are self-inflicted (Sharia law and encouraging Islamism? How's that working out? Protecting Osama? Really? Believing that India wants to conquer Pakistan? Why would they want that?) that it is tough to really think of them as a friend and ally.
Pakistan is no doubt the black sheep of our alliance. But to win in Afghanistan, we do need them in that hammer and anvil role.
But even as we calm ourselves and accept that Pakistan will do what they think they must do, we should prepare to do what we can do one day when we no longer need to accept the level of cooperation that Pakistan gives us.
I'd like the relationship to work better. So far the relationship is good enough to be a net benefit. But when circumstances change, we will have more leverage to reduce the amount of garbage we have to put up with.
This is clearly a difficult relationship and we'll have to work at it. Who knows, maybe Pakistan can be a real friend and ally one day.
