It is difficult to have much sympathy for the government of Pakistan over the terrorist wave sweeping its country given that it is largely an outcome of forces created by the Pakistan military itself. Pakistan nurtured terrorist groups as an instrument of state policy in furthering its goals in India and Afghanistan. This is not in question, except perhaps by the most delusional of Pakistanis. Pakistan’s fight against the militants is nevertheless important to us. In this case, their battle is also our battle. We cannot afford a radicalized nuclear-armed Islamist state in Pakistan. We therefore need to support the government, especially its embattled leader Asif Zardari. Whatever his other faults, he is the closest thing to a secularist you will find in Pakistan. Real power, unfortunately, rests with the military, which is not willing to completely give up those Islamist groups that it still regards as “strategic assets”. It continues to distinguish between Taliban forces that can be used against India or US forces in Afghanistan, with Taliban groups that are overtly aligned against it. The Generals do not want to admit what is patently obvious to everyone else that there is an ideological bonding between all Islamist groups. The reality is that if the modern Pakistani state is to survive, it will need to dismantle the entire terrorist infrastructure it has created. Victory in South Waziristan is not sufficient. Militants will melt into the population and move to Southern Punjab, where they will continue their campaign of violence with the aid of other radical groups that the military would no doubt currently regard as “good Islamists”. For Pakistan, the choice is clear: clean up its act and survive, or continue with the path of the past 20 years and slowly disintegrate. The question is whether the rest of the world can really allow the Pakistanis to make the wrong choice yet again.
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