Did the Obama administration get it right with regards to Pakistan?

TRANSCRIPT

This is DEFCON 3 by KT and I’m KT McFarland

I’ve been mostly critical of the Obama Administration’s foreign policy, but the one place they’ve gotten things right is in Pakistan.

Two years ago Pakistan was teetering on the edge. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, and General Musharraf was forced to resign as President. Bhutto’s widower, Asif Ali Zardari was elected, but seen as both unpopular and corrupt. Experts questioned the government’s ability to survive, or keep their nuclear arsenal secure.

Pakistan seemed to be playing both sides in the war on terror – assuring us they were helping to defeat the Taliban, but hedging their bets and providing back door assistance to them through their intelligence services.
But the Taliban overreached. They moved out of the tribal areas and into Pakistan proper. They attacked Pakistan’s Pentagon and took hostages. Suicide bombings increased and targeted civilian areas. When the Taliban bombed a women’s market, many senior military leaders lost family members. One American official said he had a hard time meeting Pakistan’s leaders because they were always at funerals. Pakistan’s leaders woke up to the fact that the Taliban presented a very real threat to their own existence.

And they changed course. They started fighting the Taliban in earnest. They gave tacit approval for the Americans to increase drone attacks targeting Taliban leaders. The Obama Administration picked up the ball. They increased aid to Pakistan, greatly. American military leaders – Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen and General Petraeus – made frequent visits to the region – and paid particular attention to the very able head of Pakistan’s military, General Kayani. And it’s paid off.

Today the Pakistan government remains fragile, but less so. They’re fighting the Taliban – which helps us and helps them. Our relationship with them is stronger. And those 100 Pakistani nuclear weapons? They seem a little more secure than they did just 18 months ago. And that’s very good news.