I am amazed at how quickly the Obama administration is going out of its way to assure everyone that we’re sticking with Pakistan for the long haul no matter what. No discussion and little explanation, it’s just assumed that Pakistan becomes the new indispensable partner that anchors US national security, even as every day reveals some new aspect where we clearly don’t trust the government, military or secret police whatsoever.
My favorite today: CNN going to town over the chunk of that super-secret stealth helo that got left behind at the OBL site. The assumption: Pakistan will give to China and the PLA will have a field day reverse-engineering a technology that cost us a lot of money to develop. The tech is so secret that CNN had expert Dan Goure on explaining it in some detail! (It’s also so secret that I can get this graphic from Reuters in a heartbeat.)
Here’s the weird thing: Pakistan is actually the closest thing China has to a military ally in this world – even more so than North Korea, which it can barely control. So if the National Military Strategy says strategic danger shifts from SW Asia to East Asia because of China’s rise, why does America automatically become guardian and sugar daddy to Pakistan?
In the end, it all comes down to our obsession with nukes. Our entire foreign policy revolves around this fear. We apparently decided somewhere along the way that we become responsible for any wayward country with nukes, no matter what they may do to us in return. Meanwhile, we shovel money at China’s best military ally, who we fear gives away every military secret we have to our alleged #1 strategic security threat. Funny how that logic works, huh?
When you wear your fears on your sleeve like we do, everyone can blackmail you. Pakistan has become our North Korea – by choice! The Chinese must laughing at their good fortune.