Gates, Mullen Say U.S. Must Work With Pakistan Despite Rocky Road by Charley Keyes, CNN. BLUF: "The nation's top military man warned Wednesday that the United States must continue to work with Pakistan as a partner despite years of mistrust."
Pakistan's Chief of Army Fights to Keep His Job by Jane Perlez, New York Times. BLUF: "Pakistan's army chief, the most powerful man in the country, is fighting to save his position in the face of seething anger from top generals and junior officers since the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden, according to Pakistani officials and people who have met the chief in recent weeks."
Pakistan Denies Army Major's Arrest for CIA Links by the Associated Press. BLUF: "The Pakistani army denied Wednesday that one of its majors was among a group of Pakistanis who Western officials say were arrested for feeding the CIA information before the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden."
Comments
I am planning to write on this topic this weekend (too busy at work right now), but I think the "relationship" is likely to continue. Too many careers and too much money is invested in it and both sides need each other to keep doing exactly what they are doing.
About another Time Square bomber; here is the scenario: some idiot gets it right. 10-15 people die (we are talking time square bomber type attack here, not Mumbai style attack or 9-11). Everyone in the US is hopping mad. Kiyani personally arrests every member of said idiots extended family and shoots them on live TV. I think the relationship will still hold....
Why we keep giving the scorpion a ride across the river year after year will eventually generate a lot of books and dissertations trying to explain why. But there may not be a lot of primary source material left because when things completely fall apart on the subcontinent, our betters inside the beltway will destroy truckloads of documents and re-align a universe of trons in order to be rid of things that would illustrate how stupid they really are. There may not be many left alive in Pakistan to interview.
I don't think China will do much besides watch.
The relationship can't be mended. It will be changed when the next Times Square bomber gets things right. It will change quick then.
I used to think that "objective conditions" matter more than the story we tell about them, but have gradually come to accept that the narrative is itself one of the biggest "objective condition" out there.
Pakistan is exhibit A in this regard. For 50 years the geniuses in the pentagon, the state department and GHQ have been happily promoting every insane weed growing out of the two-nation theory in the belief that practical profit and loss considerations will keep crucial leaders in line while the rank and file are kept entertained with the kool-aid; Now the joke has got out of hand and especially in GHQ, nobody seems to have the mental flexibility to be able to change stories in midstream. Kiyani was head of ISI, he has been chief for 4 years, he could have at least tried to get his own psyops people to start thinking about a new storyline. Instead, he (and presumably his mentors in the US) took the easy path of painting every terrorist as an Indian agent. Well, the chickens have come home to roost.
Objective conditions are still pushing for an anti-jihadi policy, but the rank and file have been drinking the kool aid so long, they might actually decide to stand up for truth, justice and the honor of Islam.
The only ray of hope is that a lot of American handlers are apparently leaving their jobs. Maybe things will change for the better at this end.
Or else China will have to save the day. I am clutching at straws here.