Follow-Up: Richardson On Pakistan

Earlier this week, I wrote about Bill Richardson’s silly recommendation for dealing with Pakistan. Mark Steyn at the National Review offers a critical look at Richardson’s “plan” and provides some excellent substance.

Steyn takes issue with this part of Richardson’s statement:

“President Bush should press Musharraf to step aside, and a broad-based coalition government, consisting of all the democratic parties, should be formed immediately… It is in the interests of the U.S. that there be a democratic Pakistan that relentlessly hunts down terrorists.”

Steyn notes:

Wow. Who knew it was that easy?

Except maybe it isn’t. A “broad-based coalition” of “all the democratic parties” would be a ramshackle collection of socialists, kleptocrats, tribal gladhanders and Islamists. Whether this is the horse to back if you’re looking for a team that “relentlessly hunts down terrorists” is, to say the least, uncertain.

But, since Governor Bill Richardson brought it up, it’s worth considering what exactly “the interests of the U.S.” are in Pakistan. The most immediate interest is in preventing the country’s tribal lands from becoming this decade’s Afghanistan – a huge Camp Osama graduating jihadist alumni from all over the world. That ship, if it hasn’t already sailed, has certainly cast off and is chugging out the harbor. Something called “the Islamic Emirate of Waziristan” now operates a local franchise of Taliban rule in both north and south Waziristan, and is formally recognized by the Pakistan government in the Islamabad-Waziri treaty of just over a year ago.

Take a look at the full article, it’s definitely worth a read.