Pakistan continues to only partly fight jihadis inside Pakistan's western tribal territories who threaten Afghanistan. Could America step in to fight them?
These three views basically spell out that Pakistan has to balance fighting jihadis focused on Afghanistan and defending against jihadis who would fight Pakistan; and that Pakistan has made progress in controlling the jihadis in the tribal areas but has a long way to go.
If America under the new national defense strategy wants to rely on proxies on the sub-state level--as we did in Syria to fight ISIL--it is hard not to see the unsettled situation in Pakistan's tribal areas--the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)--as potentially fertile ground for such a proxy campaign to help fight jihadis who shelter inside the tribal areas, some under protection of the Pakistanis.
That would be a good amount of pressure to do more to control the jihadis themselves.
About Me
- Brian J. Dunn
- I live and write in Ann Arbor, Michigan. University of Michigan AB and MA from Eastern Michigan University. One term in the Michigan Army National Guard. Former American history instructor and retired nonpartisan research analyst. I write on Blogger and Substack. Various military and private journals have published my occasional articles on military subjects. See "My Published Works" on the TDR web version or under the mobile version drop-down menu for citations and links.
