Obama and Pakistan

As President Obama has said several times, in order to win the war on terror we must focus our attention on Pakistan. Osama Bin Laden is supposedly hiding in mountain caves in the northern region of the country, and Taliban and Al-Qaeda are reportedly active in Pakistan as well. Obama has stated that we must strengthen negotiations with the Pakistani government in order to more effectively hunt the Taliban hiding in the north, which is an admirable—if a bit impractical—goal. But US policies in the region threaten to undermine, policies that Obama is doing nothing to change. If he continues to do nothing, I fear that sooner or later both the government and people of Pakistan develop some strong anti-US sentiment.

The most important policy is the unmanned aircraft strikes on Taliban hideouts. These involve the hit-and-run bombing of buildings supposedly containing Taliban insurgents, mostly in rural areas in the north of Pakistan. This week, in fact, there were several more of these strikes, which killed about 10 Pakistanis, at least 5 of whom were Taliban insurgents. However, these impersonal airstrikes sometimes kill civilians or destroy civilian houses, which has lead many tribal groups to hate the US and demand that the airstrikes stop. The Pakistani government has also spoken out against these airstrikes for similar reasons.

The second reason is India. India and Pakistan may soon be at each other’s throats, as tension over various issues has escalated over the past few years. The revelation that Pakistani terrorists were behind the Mumbai attacks angered many Indians, and the issue of who owns the province of Kashmir flared up during elections in India. The last armed conflict over the region was in 1965, but neither side was able to fully conquer the territory and the UN had to negotiate a stalemate. The issue is still enormously important to both Indians and Pakistanis, and it may be the spark that sets of a war in the region. 

So what can Obama do to prevent the US from getting entangled in Pakistan’s problems? There are probably many answers, but I would like to highlight a few key policies that I believe need changing if we are to salvage our relationship with Pakistan. The first simple: do something about the airstrikes. I recommend one of the following options: (1) use drones only to reconnoiter and search for Bin Laden rather than for the purpose of bombing small villages that supposedly contain terrorists, or (2) simply let the Pakistani government in on what’s going on, and don’t act without their approval. Either option should lessen the Pakistani people’s hatred of American intervention, since it will make our operations seem less invasive and more legitimate. As for India-Pakistan relations, here the US must do all it can to stay out of the way. It is the UN’s job, not the US’s, to mediate disputes between the two countries. If we get too caught up in this conflict, we may find ourselves dealing with a major war if it flares up.

Of course, the whole issue of dealing with Pakistan is really a secondary one, at least compared to the overwhelming issue that is the economy. But at times like these we should try to minimize the number of foreign entanglements we have to deal with, so I sincerely hope that President Obama deals more diplomatically with Pakistan than his predecessor did.