home > by publication type > must reads > Guardian: Take this war into Pakistan
Email
| Author: | Jawed Ludin |
|---|
August 27, 2008
If the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf represented a step forward for Pakistan's nascent democratic transition, the collapse of the ruling coalition this week underlined its delicacy. This is a crucial time for the international community, and the United States in particular, to review its relationship with Pakistan - especially when it comes to a strategy for defeating the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, and the terrorist threat across the wider region.
To begin with, the US must invest more confidence and resources in Pakistan's civil society and its civilian, democratic leadership. The last general election, held in February, in which secular political parties won landslide victories at the expense of extremist groups, reflects the true aspirations of the people, which must be nurtured and supported.
In Restoring the Balance: A Middle East Strategy for the Next President, experts from the Council on Foreign Relations and the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution propose a new, nonpartisan Middle East strategy drawing on the lessons of past failures to address both the short-term and long-term challenges to U.S. interests.
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.
Global Economy 