This is fascinating:
A Pentagon spokesman said that the US military will not conduct hot pursuit of Taliban and allied jihadist fighters from Afghanistan into Pakistan. Additionally, the spokesman said that the military would be fine if the Taliban was operating on the Pakistani side of the border.
“We have no authority to go into Pakistan,” Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mike Andrews told Pajhwok Afghan News.
I assume drone strikes are a different matter. But why are we basically ruling out "hot pursuit" by ground forces into Pakistan?
A regional approach to Afghanistan means expanding the fight outside Afghanistan's borders. Is Pakistan suddenly committed to fighting the jihadis under American pressure? That seems unlikely. But I'll take it as a great development, if true.
Or is America going to enable tribes inside Pakistan to fight the jihadis, bypassing Pakistan's uncooperative government (or at least their uncooperative security services, more specifically)?
There's more than one way to have a regional strategy.
