Robert Kagan weighs in with a very scary thought: “all the warnings in the world may not be enough to forestall an Indian attack, especially given the Indian government’s political vulnerability, even if it risks another Indo-Pakistani war.”
And he provides a typically smart solution:
Rather than simply begging the Indians to show restraint, a better option could be to internationalize the response. Have the international community declare that parts of Pakistan have become ungovernable and a menace to international security. Establish an international force to work with the Pakistanis to root out terrorist camps in Kashmir as well as in the tribal areas. This would have the advantage of preventing a direct military confrontation between India and Pakistan. It might also save face for the Pakistani government, since the international community would be helping the central government reestablish its authority in areas where it has lost it. But whether or not Islamabad is happy, don’t the international community and the United States, at the end of the day, have some obligation to demonstrate to the Indian people that we take attacks on them as seriously as we take attacks on ourselves?
If ever there is a real-world test of the utility of Barack Obama’s global popularity, this is it. If this is really to be a new age of international cooperation, and if Obama wields such vital soft power, then let’s make things happen. So far, Obama’s Pakistan policy encompasses little more than a humanitarian aid boost. This is uninspired and historically ineffective. It should be junked in favor of a bold policy aimed at reversing the dangerous deterioration inside Pakistan.
The hitch here is Pakistan’s sovereignty. But as Kagan notes, sovereignty has to be earned. And after decades of exorbitant American aid being repaid with expansive state-supported jihad, it can be said that Pakistan has failed to make the grade. After the invasion of Iraq, the Left seemed to make a fetish of sovereignty for autocrats and tyrants. Let’s hope this is another area in which Barack Obama is poised to flip-flop. And let’s hope that he doesn’t believe popularity is its own reward.
