Our “ally” Pakistan is increasingly giving into the Taliban. The Pakistani government has given control of territory just 80 Miles from Islamabad to them.
Writing From Lahore, Pakistan — Maulana Sufi Mohammed, a radical cleric who was freed last year after spending six years in jail for leading 10,000 Pashtun tribesmen in opposition to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, has begun a new campaign. He is leading a peace march through the strategic Swat Valley in an attempt to persuade his son-in-law, Maulana Qazi Fazlullah, to accept the government’s offer of a cease-fire and enforcement of an Islamic system of justice in the valley.
The fact that Mohammed has embraced the government’s offer is a sign of how fully Islamabad has capitulated to the demands of extremists in the region. And the fact that the peace deal has not yet been accepted by Fazlullah, who leads the Swati contingent of the Pakistani Taliban and is closely allied with Al Qaeda, is a sign of how radicalized some of the region has become.
Why do we ally with nations like Pakistan? Instead Obama is giving India the cold shoulder. Why do we continue to slice our own throats?
