What Happens When You’re Not Looking?

I suspect we’ve been preoccupied lately, with the Presidential Campaign Season, Hurricanes, Sarah Barracuda, Financial Disaster…you get the picture.  But there is a disturbance in the Middle East, and we might be making a new enemy. I’ve heard a news byte on the radio here and there, and read the occasional article elsewhere, and until recently, I didn’t realize that we have some possible development in Pakistan. Since July, the US has been moving forward with Afghan/Pakistan border raids–despite Pakistan’s protests–in a region considered a likely hiding place for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

I remember hearing a while back that we had chased some militants into the border area of Pakistan nearest to Afghanistan.  There wasn’t a lot of media hype (exactly which media outlet makes the decision about “what is news” anyway?), so it passed out of my memory. Now it seems like the intermittent “border crossings” are becoming more frequent.  Americans had been keeping up with the War on Terror, but news about Iraq, Afghanistan and the surrounding nations have been pushed into the background somewhat, while we weren’t looking.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister had some choice words about the US strategy (tactic…whatever), The U.N. workers and British diplomats in Pakistan have sent their children out of the country–because each strike has had some accompanying civilian casualties and Al Quaeda is retaliating. Last month, the Marriott hotel in Islamabad endured a suicide bomber attack that used a truck filled with explosives, killing 60 people and injuring more than 260 others.

President Asif Ali Zardari has described the bombing as an assassination attempt he and other top national leaders narrowly escaped.

Part of the problem is that Pakistan hasn’t cut ties to militant groups; the other half is that the Bush Administration is running these raids without Pakistan’s consent or approval. While the U.S. military operations have been successfully targeting key extremists, the civilian deaths alongside have not exactly helped win the “hearts and minds” of a country long allied with us in the War on Terror. Lisa Curtis, of the Heritage Foundation, said that not only is this fueling extremist behavior, it is also undermining the Pakistani government’s denunciation of militant acts. The US may need to continue to rely on unilateral military action in the Tribal Areas to protect its troops fighting across the border in Afghanistan in order to prevent a future, potentially catastrophic international terrorist attack.

US officials in Afghanistan or Washington rarely acknowledge the attacks, but Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said:

It hurts us even more when the transgressor is our friend and ally, the US.

Qureshi has also warned that US military operations in Pakistani territory undermine efforts to fight terrorism and serve to “fan” extremism. American officials complain that Pakistan is unwilling or unable to act against the militants.

I just think we need to proceed with caution.