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On September 25, Afghanistan accused Pakistan of permitting the firing of over 340 rockets in just four days over the border. On October 3, terrorists fired four 122-millimeter Grad rockets into Afghanistan less than 100 feet away from a Pakistani border post. It is suspected that someone at the post helped tell the terrorists where to aim the rockets. U.S. officers say that many attacks happen less than a mile away from border posts that have a clear view of them. The Pakistani military claims it doesn’t see it happening.
Pakistan’s blocking of the supplies to Afghanistan is its most aggressive action yet since the killing of Osama Bin Laden. About half of the non-lethal supplies sent to NATO forces in Afghanistan arrive through Pakistan. As Richard Miniter notes, that is significantly less than what it was during the Bush administration, when 80 percent came through that route. He argues that the U.S. should airlift more supplies using allies in central Asia and that the U.S. should secretly build a supply route through India. Pakistan’s sponsorship of terrorism recently led Afghanistan to form a “strategic partnership” with India, Pakistan’s worst enemy.
It is an open question whether Pakistan’s half-hearted and inconsistent cooperation with the U.S. on counter-terrorism will continue. It is true that Pakistan’s government faces a threat from Islamist terrorists, including the Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces it has fought but still offers sanctuary to. It is looking to China to replace U.S. influence, and may well cut a deal with the Islamist terrorists in order to reach a ceasefire with them. Pakistan seems to be treating them more favorably than it treats the U.S., despite the billions of dollars it receives from American taxpayers.
After 9/11, President Bush told every nation of the world: “You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists.” Pakistan didn’t take him seriously and took a middle road that it can travel no longer. Pakistan, instead of changing its ways and being apologetic, has only become more antagonistic since Bin Laden was killed in its territory. The American people are fed up.
Pakistan is under unprecedented pressure to pick a side and its choosing the side of the terrorists.
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