U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says Pakistan’s military will soon be ready to begin a long-awaited offensive in its North Waziristan border region, where the al-Qaida-affiliated Haqqani network is reportedly based. Military officials in Pakistan have nothing to say about Panetta's claim, and Pakistan's political leaders say it would be premature to speculate on whether an operation is being planned.
Pakistan has long resisted pressure to mobilize troops against the Haqqani network who are said to be entrenched in North Waziristan. The United States says the militants are involved in cross-border attacks on NATO forces to fuel the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.
"Smart" diplomacy was supposed to be about talking with everyone to look for those areas of common agreement that Bush supposedly ignored. I sincerely doubt that the Pakistanis suddenly realized the error of their ways in supporting jihadis.
But if the Obama administration wants to practice effective diplomacy instead of their vaunted smart diplomacy, I won't stand in their way.
It's about time.
UPDATE: Hmmm. Is this off-the-radar (and disturbing) Pakistani spy case (tip to Instapundit) the reason Pakistan is finally going into North Waziristan? Are we essentially blackmailing Pakistan by threatening to make a big deal of this big deal?
Given that we are beginning to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and are turning over responsibilities to Afghan forces, knocking back the jihadis in their Pakistan sanctuary buys space for those activities. Don't forget that is why Nixon "expanded" the Vietnam War by sending troops into Cambodia. That was all about smashing up North Vietnamese logistics to keep them from interfering with our withdrawal and handover of primary fighting duties.
We'll see how that anticipated North Waziristan offensive goes, eh? And how long it lasts.
