Congress worries about Obama's plan for Pakistan

[discocrisco01]

Source: Associated Press

Facing the prospect of more American deaths in Afghanistan as the war escalates, lawmakers lashed out at neighboring Pakistan on Thursday as an unreliable ally that could spare the U.S. its bruising fight with al-Qaida if it wanted.

"They don't seem to want a strategic relationship," New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez said of the government in Islamabad. "They want the money. They want the equipment. But at the end of the day, they don't want a relationship that costs them too much."

A crucial ally in fighting the al-Qaida terrorist network, Pakistan is also a major recipient of U.S. aid. President Barack Obama and Congress recently approved a $7.5 billion aid package for economic and social programs in Pakistan in a bid to strengthen the civilian government there.

But many in Congress have grown skeptical that Islamabad is doing all it can to drive out al-Qaida forces hiding along its mountainous Afghan border. Those doubts reached a new pitch this week after Obama's announcement that he will send 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan by next fall, with the anticipation that they would start coming home in July 2011.

Obama has not said whether or how the troop buildup would accelerate attacks on the terrorist network hiding in Pakistan. The U.S. has previously relied on drone-launched missile strikes, and those operations are classified.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8841614

[jwirr]

1. What I fear is getting out of the frying pan into the fire. We may be

able to get out of Iraq into Afghanistan but will we only manage to get ourselves into a war with Pakistan next?

[Jefferson23]

2. 30 billion Afghanistan, 7 billion for Pakistan, and more shit and death for U.S. soldiers for

NOTHING!

[Fire1]

3. I certainly wouldn't go in without the cooperation of Pakistan. n/t