The situation is volatile in Pakistan right now, given Musharraf's state of emergency, but it appears that the United States is not just sticking with the Pakistani president in an effort to stop al-Qaeda. There is now a move to duplicate a strategy that has contributed to success in Iraq.

A new and classified American military proposal outlines an intensified effort to enlist tribal leaders in the frontier areas of Pakistan in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, as part of a broader effort to bolster Pakistani forces against an expanding militancy, American military officials said.

If adopted, the proposal would join elements of a shift in strategy that would also be likely to expand the presence of American military trainers in Pakistan, directly finance a separate tribal paramilitary force that until now has proved largely ineffective and pay militias that agree to fight Al Qaeda and foreign extremists, officials said. The United States now has only about 50 troops in Pakistan, a Pentagon spokesman said, a force that could grow by dozens under the new approach.

The new proposal is modeled in part on a similar effort by American forces in Anbar Province in Iraq that has been hailed as a great success in fighting foreign insurgents there. But it raises the question of whether such partnerships can be forged without a significant American military presence on the ground in Pakistan. And it is unclear whether enough support can be found among the tribes.

And that last point is rather important. We don't know how deep al-Qaeda support runs, or how easily we can sway the tribal groups of Pakistan's frontier region. The question is, given Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, if we can afford not to court these groups. After all, if the alternative is a nuclear al-Qaeda, isn't this policy preferable?

Posted by: Greg at 10:57 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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