Pakistan Needs Time

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This report in the New York Times follows a similar pattern to what we've seen for the last few weeks vis-a-vis our Pakistani "ally" in the War on Terror. Namely, that with friends like these ... well, you get the picture.
 
How this storyline has taken so long to report is anyone's guess, but now that the media has decided to focus on it, they've predictably sensationalized it -- increasing the potential that politics may derail what is left of our troubled relationship with Islamabad.
 
Without a doubt, we should all be concerned about what's happening, or rather, what isn't happening in Pakistan. But there is a vast difference between being concerned about something on the one hand, and panicking about it on the other. And as much as the latter helps the New York Times to sell newspapers, I don't think that we should be giving in that easy.
 
The fact is that as bad as things have been for some time, the sky isn't falling quite yet. Recently, Professor Anatol Lieven, an analyst that actually understands the history and culture of Pakistan, reported from his travels to Karachi, "Karachi demonstrates as well as anywhere else the fact that while Pakistan is a troubled state, it is as yet very far from being a failed one."
 
Now, I don't always find myself in agreement with Anatol, but if there's one thing that he understands better than most (if not all), it's Pakistan. If you have a moment, do yourself a favor and read his column in the National Interest Online.
 
By simply reacting to the news without an alternative frame of reference, we run the risk of rushing a new policy that has just been put into place. Hopefully, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto has taught us that impatience, when it comes to foreign policy, can be an extremely dangerous vice.
 
I'm not suggesting that we allow this "ruse" to continue indefinitely, nor am I prepared in this post to offer any time line or suggestions beyond what the current administration has already presented (perhaps others can do so in the comments). What I would advise though, is that we give the recent changes made in our policy, especially the change in our military leadership, a bit of time to work.
 
The views contained in this post are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of current or previous employers.