Pakistan in dire straits

I just watched an interview of Pakistani ambassador Hussain Haqqani with Wolf Blitzer on CNN. Blitzer kept pressing Haqqani to admit that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's claim that Pakistan was in deep trouble was true, or at least close to the truth. Haqqani rebuffed this suggestion by Clinton. Instead, he asserted that the Pakistani government will fight the Taliban and other tribal groups supporting them tooth and nail.

My evaluation of what is going on? Well, after reading the Council on Foriegn Relations' piece on Pakistan's gloomy future, I have to say I'm not overly worried, but I am mildly concerned. The reason I am not overly worried is because I know how most Pakistanis think: they want Western materialism with a decent diet of Islamic teaching to keep them strait and narrow. In other words, 99% of Pakistanis, even the religious parties, would puke if the Taliban took over the nation. They have no tolerance for such a harsh and rigid Islamic government.

My concern is with the way the current government, led by Asif Zardari, is handling the crisis. It was absolutely wrong to allow these extremists to govern part of the nation. Could you imagine if the US allowed the KKK to govern over Alabama, for example? No, you couldn't. And Pakistanis are wondering if their government is either extremely clever or extremely stupid. I think it is the latter. The problem with Zardari is that he is not a real politician. Former President Pervez Musharraf was though. He at least had the knowledge and guts to go after these extremists when they threatened the country during the Lal Masjid episode last year.

It has become painfully obvious that these extremists have goals that include taking over the entire country of Pakistan. Let's hope that Pakistani politicians have the courage to stand up for their people and not cave into the demands of extremists who are bent on turning Pakistan into a rigid and extremist state. If the Taliban and their loyal band of bearded tribes keep pressing further into Punjab then it will only be a matter of time before Pakistan once again becomes a military state being led by another general turned statesman. Maybe that is the only way to keep the Taliban out and maybe keep them at bay once and for all. In any case, the politicians better realize that these extremists mean business and deal with them accordingly for having threatened the entire nation.