Mission Creep Without End

Recent media reports have highlighted the possibility--perhaps likelihood--that the US might directly engage militarily with Taliban and al Qaeda forces within Pakistan.
According to the NY Times, the situation is "now so grave that both Mr. Musharraf and Pakistan’s new military leadership were likely to give the United States more latitude, officials said." Military action, says the Times, "would probably involve the C.I.A. working with the military’s Special Operations forces." In December, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the number of al Qaeda fighters crossing the border into Afghanistan had declined by about 40%. According to Gates, "al-Qaeda right now seems to have turned its face toward Pakistan and attacks on the Pakistani government and Pakistani people."
To say the Pakistani regime and military are in a tough spot would be an understatement. An anonymous "senior Pakistani security official" told Asia Times Online, "we have actually been thrown into a deep quagmire where we are not left with many options. The CIA's presence in Pakistan has made it impossible for Pakistan to handle the Taliban problem independently and through dialogue. On the other hand, there is no military solution on the horizon against the Taliban and another [Pakistani army] operation against militants would cause more than serious repercussions. Now we are at a crossroad and we feel threatened that if this problem escalates it may give Western powers and their regional allies a chance to justify an attack on Pakistan's nuclear arsenal."
In December, an opposition Afghanistan newspaper, Cheragh (Light), alleged the "USA [is] trying to use Pakistani insurgents against Al-Qa'idah," using a tactic borrowed from the US military's experience in Iraq. But the article goes further, suggesting conspiratorially, "when the White House attacked Afghanistan in 2001 and occupied this country, it dispersed the Taleban and Al-Qa'idah in the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia. In the second phase, it maintained direct contacts with the senior leaders of this group. Therefore, America has been using Al-Qa'idah as a tool since the symbolic and self-made event on 11 September 2001."
Complicated, murky and brimming with unknowns is the US-Pakistan relationship.
It will be interesting to see what develops going forward.