The Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq is looking more and more like the most disastrous foreign policy mistake in U.S. history.
When we should have been focused on al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan after 9/11/01, the Bush administration instead pissed away focus and resources on a diversionary disaster in Iraq.
So what has happened? When we had a chance to nip this in the bud right after 9/11, we instead allowed the cancer of al Qadea and the Taliban to metastasize into Pakistan. Now we are looking at a situation where, having been handed the Swat valley just weeks ago in a disastrous appeasement gambit by Asif Ali Zardari, the Taliban is already pushing into Islamabad via Buner, and by some reports is just 50 miles away from the capital. And to think so many thought it a good thing when Musharraf left.
If the Taliban gets Islamabad they will topple the government, and if Pakistan goes, our efforts to stabilize Afghanistan with Obama's surge into that country are shot to hell. Then we're really in trouble.
So now what? The big question is what becomes of Pakistan’s nukes in the hands of al Qaeda and the Taliban.
I just pray that Clinton and Holbrooke can come up with something together with General Jones. There’s been suggestions here at Kos and elsewhere that perhaps Israel or India can get Pakistan’s nukes, but I believe it would be slightly better if the U.S. does it, even though that would be a nightmare as well. One thing is certain: it will require a massive troop deployment. We went into Iraq with 140,000 troops and it was estimated by honest Generals that we really needed at least three times that amount for a population of about 35 million. Pakistan has roughly 180 million people.
Pakistan needs help. The nation is on the brink of being thrown back into medieval hell by the religious wackjobs of the Taliban, and with enough sympathizers in key positions in the country and the disastrous moves of Asif Ali Zardari, there is nothing to stop it. Hillary Clinton said as much in her startling testimony. If Pakistan goes, we're screwed with our surge in Afghanistan, and all bets are off.