Word: pakistanis
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...most recent concession came in February, when the Pakistani government accepted a peace agreement with Taliban elements active in its Swat Valley to allow Sharia law in the region. Predictably, the Taliban reneged on the agreement and encroached further on the nation’s capital, Islamabad. Another attempt to open negotiations on new terms earlier this month also failed. With such a record on its hands and the Taliban growing increasingly brazen in its maneuvers, the Pakistani government must reevaluate its policy. With the help of the international community, it can and should use all of its military resources...
...While Pakistan does have some soldiers already in place, they are too few and inadequately organized. While it may be impractical for us to stretch our defense forces even more to send troops to Pakistan, U.S. intelligence resources and military advisers would drastically increase the effectiveness of the Pakistani army. The recent deployment of 24 U.S. military advisors to Pakistan to train the Pakistani military in counterinsurgency tactics is a good start. Promising proposed legislation in Congress also calls for $7.5 billion in non-military aid to Pakistan over the next five years to spur economic growth and development, with...
...These strategies will admittedly not come cheap. Though there are some ways to cut costs—implementing a World War II-style lend-lease act with the Pakistani government, for example, in which arms are provided for the purpose of combating the Taliban with the expectation that they will be returned—any international effort is bound to have significant costs. Illogical though it may seem to give foreign aid during a recession period, though, Americans should be prepared to contribute significant funds to Pakistan. Destroying the Taliban is an expensive investment now, but will yield large dividends...
...Other countries can also lend a hand. In addition to helping provide the Pakistani military with money, arms, advising, and artillery, the international community could help with air strikes should Pakistan request them and mobilize an international coalition of troops to put down the insurgents. With limited economic capital, the international community should not entangle itself unnecessarily in wars. But the rare request in times of crisis from the Pakistani government should not fall on deaf ears...
...alternative to either Zardari or Sharif. And, of course, the military has not exactly been gung-ho about taking the fight to the militants on its own turf. In short, there simply is no leadership in Pakistan willing or able to do much of what Washington would like a Pakistani leadership to do. Washington has no alternative but to back one or other of the flawed options, because the alternative could prove even more disastrous to U.S. interests...