Once more with feeling:
President Donald Trump's administration has quietly started cutting scores of Pakistani officers from coveted training and educational programs that have been a hallmark of bilateral military relations for more than a decade, U.S. officials say.
The move, which has not been previously reported, is one of the first known impacts from Trump's decision this year to suspend U.S. security assistance to Pakistan to compel it to crack down on Islamic militants.
But there are limits to how much we can punish Pakistan:
Officially allies in fighting terrorism, Pakistan and the United States have a complicated relationship, bound by Washington's dependence on Pakistan to supply its troops in Afghanistan but plagued by accusations Islamabad is playing a double game.
Tensions have grown over U.S. complaints that the Afghan Taliban militants and the Haqqani network that target American troops in Afghanistan are allowed to shelter on Pakistani soil.
These are longstanding problems that we haven't solved.
I've long complained about the problem of supply lines through Pakistan.
If we had a supply line through a friendly Iran, the situation would be radically different. Is that possible?
Until then, Pakistan is our Black Sheep ally. I'm not even confident that a more aggressive strategy that challenges Pakistan's weak point could work before provoking Pakistan to stop being even an imperfect ally.
Things can always be worse, remember. I'm not sure what we can accomplish by punishing Pakistan under the current situation.
