This video is part of a special Council on Foreign Relations series that explores the top foreign policy issues debated in the run-up to the 2012 elections. In this video, Daniel Markey, CFR's senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia, discusses the strategic importance of Pakistan.

The United States has effectively issued an ultimatum to Islamabad implying greater unilateral action against Pakistan-based extremist groups, but Washington must be prepared to act on it, says CFR's Daniel Markey.

Daniel Markey says tough talk is not enough as the United States places demands on Islamabad to deal with the Haqqani network.

In this Center for Preventive Action study, CFR scholars provide policy options for preventing a major crisis and mitigating the consequences in the territories immediately adjacent to China: North Korea, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Central Asia.

Which policies have worked and which ones need work ten years after the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history? CFR experts examine ten issues that have preoccupied U.S. planners.

Initial U.S. successes in Afghanistan and Pakistan after 9/11 masked deeper problems that have beset Washington's effort to stabilize the "AfPak" theater, writes CFR's Daniel Markey.

The FBI's arrest of Ghulam Nabi Fai on charges of acting as a Pakistani agent to lobby U.S. policymakers on Kashmir may worsen the countries' already troubled relationship, says CFR's Daniel Markey.

Cuts in U.S. military aid to Pakistan only have a chance to translate into greater cooperation if they're part of a larger strategy, including a U.S. crackdown on Pakistan-linked militants in Afghanistan, says CFR's Daniel Markey.

This Policy Innovation Memorandum argues that the United States should move quickly to convert the post-bin Laden crisis into an opportunity for significant and positive reform of Pakistan's security and intelligence services.

In "Pakistan," a chapter in Beyond bin Laden, Daniel Markey argues that Osama bin Laden's death comes at a time of intense crisis between the United States and Pakistan.

Daniel Markey discusses how much damage the death of Osama bin Laden has done to an already strained U.S.-Pakistan relationship and whether Pakistan is still to be trusted.

Daniel Markey, Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, explores the implications of Osama bin Laden's death for U.S. tense relations with Pakistan, the country in which the al-Qaeda leader was hiding.

Americans and Pakistanis have good reasons for mutual mistrust, and the killing of bin Laden by U.S. troops on Pakistani soil is likely to exacerbate that rather than lead to increased cooperation, says CFR's Daniel Markey.

Osama bin Laden's death is a real and symbolic blow to al-Qaeda, and its stature in the Middle East is already diminished by the pro-democracy movements in the region, but the group remains lethal. Seven CFR experts discuss.

The crisis in U.S.-Pakistani relations followed mounting mistrust over the U.S. war in Afghanistan, in particular. But Washington should seize the chance to reinvigorate ties rather than look elsewhere for partners, says CFR's Daniel Markey.

Increasing distrust between the CIA and Pakistan's ISI over the Raymond Davis case could threaten efforts to fight militancy along the Afghan border. Experts Daniel Markey and Shuja Nawaz discuss policy options to restore the relationship.

Daniel Markey, Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses the strategic importance of normalizing India-Pakistan relations, for the region as well as the United States.

Daniel Markey, Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations discusses the diplomatic spat between the United States and Pakistan over U.S. Embassy employee Raymond Davis's arrest by Pakistani authorities on murder charges.

The Afghan strategy review stresses destroying Taliban havens in Pakistan's tribal areas, but Pakistan isn't likely to take an aggressive stand without certainty that the U.S. is committed to both Afghan stability and eliminating extremists, says CFR's Daniel Markey.

Daniel Markey argues, "Barack Obama's strategy won't succeed unless he realizes that Hamid Karzai is neither the problem nor the solution."