That Ally In Pakistan

By Cernig

Jeb Koogler at The Moderate Voice has a good post today exploring the sticky questions around the common line that Pakistan's Musharaff is a staunch ally in the war on terror. Jeb writes:

Fredrick Grare, in a new report from the Carnegie Center for International Peace, thinks that we’re being duped. He suggests that Musharraf is not so useful of an ally and that the billions of dollars of American aid since 9/11 have not been nearly as effective as many had thought.

While Pakistan may have cut ties with groups like al-Qaeda (more of a liability than an asset), Musharraf has been quite lenient with regional groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Taliban that are useful to his regional goals in Afghanistan and Kashmir. Put simply, maintaining ties to these local militant organizations helps Musharraf to check the power of India.

Exactly, that really is the defining reason for everything when it comes to the Pakistani military. However, I'm not at all sure Pakistan's ISI has cut ties with Al Qaeda. Bin Laden has to be getting his dialysis somewhere, and it isn't in Afghanistan.