So this is interesting:
A Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA track Osama bin Laden before U.S. special forces killed the terrorist leader should be charged with treason, the official Pakistani inquiry into bin Laden's presence in the country recommended Thursday.
The inquiry's judgment on Shakeel Afridi probably will infuriate U.S. officials, who consider him a hero. If he's convicted, Afridi could be sentenced to death.
If Pakistan was really our ally, wouldn't a government panel put the people who hid Osama bin Laden for years within Pakistan on trial for treason and put them at risk of the death penalty?
I've long said I'd rather have Pakistan as an imperfect ally while we need them to wage war. I'd like better, but realistically you take the adequate if the alternative is worse. But I do so look forward to the day when we can cut them off and wish them just the best of luck with their Chinese and jihadi buddies at their side. That would be some time next year by the middle of summer, I'd say, when we no longer need Pakistani supply lines to wage war in Afghanistan.
UPDATE: Pakistan can save their alliance with us. But they can't assume we need them more than they need us. That was true in the past. It soon won't be true. Pakistan needs to adapt:
The US would still rather move on in Afghanistan with Pakistan rather than against it, but time and trust are running short. It looks from the outside (and probably also looks this way in Islamabad) that the Obama administration is carefully and deliberately orchestrating pressure. I suspect that the hardline Pakistanis, secure in their arrogance and contempt for an administration they believe is weak and poorly led, will be telling their colleagues that the President is bluffing and pushing for a policy of brinkmanship. Push this guy and he steps back, they are saying. He talks tough but backs down.
One very much hopes they are wrong. It would be a serious mistake to let things get to this point without a plan to move ahead without a Pakistani alliance.
Yes. With his reputation for being a pushover, Pakistan might grossly miscalculate what they can get away with in a battle of wills with President Obama. We've progressed far enough in our campaign that we can't put off dealing with Pakistan's double dealing. Our supply situation is far less reliant on Pakistan and will be able to run without Pakistan by this coming summer. Plus, I think that we have progressed far enough at the sub-national level inside Pakistan to work with locals even over Pakistan's objections.
Our State Department needs to make Pakistan understand that we will go forward with them, without them, or against them. We should all hope that the first option is Pakistan's choice. But we will go forward, I think.
