Pakistan as a Safe Haven -- A Lily for Obama

It's making us all nuts--money poured into Pakistan to be a US "partner" in settling down Afghanistan and yet the Taliban lives there, goes across the border to fight, and then goes home to their safe haven.

The Pakistani military and intelligence agencies know where they are but seem unable to do anything to disrupt their operations.

The way to resolve this is not to bluster, bully, beg and wheedle with the Pakistani government or to give them more money, weapons or anything else.

From what "they" let me know, it appears that the solution to this problem lies in resolving the Pakistanis and the Indian struggle that rivals--no, actually surpasses--the tenure of that of the Palestinians and the Israelis.  This allows Al Qaeda, the Taliban and anyone else who finds it in their interest to do so, to play off one of these nuclear powers against the other. This is dangerous.

Again, from the information that we have, the Pakistanis find it in their interest to keep India occupied with "Muslim extremists" of the type who attacked Mumbai.  This is a perilous strategy for the Pakistanis, of course, as the existence of the Taliban and Al Qaeda on their soil not only impugns their international integrity, it undermines their own internal security.

I don't know how the Indian-Pakistani "crisis" can be resolved, or even whether it can.  But I do think that trying to somehow convince the Pakistanis turn loose of their unsavory non-allies any other way than to eliminate the advantage they see in cleaving to them is an example of us pursuing a goal that  seems reasonable, even though it is ineffective. 

Maybe the President knows something I am not allowed to know about this dynamic, but until I figure out what that could possibly be I have to be cynical about American policy vis a vis both Afghanistan and Pakistan.  If one wanted a "bulwark" against Iran, wouldn't peace between Pakistan and India be something to think about?

Or, how about just dismantling our empire in the Middle East and ...

Sorry, Mr. Obama, a Lily for you.