It's no secret that various terrorist groups have gotten significant support from Pakistan – either from elements of InterServices Intelligence or from private actors in the country. In the last year, ISI has been implicated in aiding an attack on the Indian consulate in Kabul, and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, the alleged perpetrators of the Mumbai attack, allegedly had ISI connections too.
Now, the Long War Journal reports that Afghan intelligence has found Pakistanis – with ISI support – behind a ring of suicide bombings in Kabul, the same day a Pakistani report on the Mumbai bombings exonerated not just the government, but everything that happened anywhere on Pakistani territory (the Pakistani high Commissioner to Britain allegedly said “Pakistani territory was not used”). Maybe David Rothkopf has it right about where the real mission is.
If so, a big part of that mission is going to be winning hearts and minds in rural parts of Pakistan, where militants are strongest. Spencer Ackerman says in one such area, the rural Swat Valley, progress is being made – but there's going to be a very long road ahead, and in the meantime, the conventional conflict is not going well. Indeed, Fareed Zakaria says the Afghani component of the war could turn into Obama's Vietnam.
The new Administration has put America's top military strategist – General David Petraeus – and, arguably, our top diplomat – Richard Holbrooke – to work on the region, which suggests they recognize the area is our top foreign-policy challenge. Hopefully, we will maintain that level of focus. If not, the problem will be far worse when we are forced to give it our full attention.
