mehboobkz
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The United States has begun divorce proceedings with Pakistan, and not a moment too soon.
After Adm. Mike Mullen shot his broadside at Pakistan's intelligence service last month, accusing it of helping the Haqqani militant group attack the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, Pakistani politicians responded with angry denunciations - followed by smug, sanctimonious assertions that Washington has no choice but to continue putting up with Pakistan, no matter what it does.
"You cannot afford to alienate Pakistan," Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar averred. And Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gilani confidently asserted: "You can't live with us - or without us."
Think again. A few days later, the Obama administration opened negotiations to improve relations with Uzbekistan, Afghanistan's authoritarian neighbor to the north. The purpose: to step up shipments of military supplies for American troops in Afghanistan using the "northern distribution route" rather than the route from Pakistan. Recently, Pakistani gunmen attacked one of those supply convoys, burning two trucks and killing a driver - the latest of numerous similar attacks.
FOREIGN MATTERS / U.S. cooling on Pakistan, warming to Uzbekistan
Late last month, the White House said, President Obama called Uzbekistan's president, Islam Karimov, to congratulate him on 20 years of independence from Russia - a month after the actual anniversary. That indicated the beginning of a serious charm offensive. A few days earlier, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a motion to lift restrictions prohibiting the United States from offering military assistance.
That set off Human Rights Watch and 20 other similar groups, bleating about Uzbekistan's poor human-rights record, including its habit of jailing human-rights officers and putting children to work.
Well, wait just a minute! Consider the alternative. Pakistan kills human-rights workers - and its own children. It uses gang rape as a government-sanctioned punishment. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan records several hundred incidents a year in which women and children are hanged, set ablaze, electrocuted, poisoned, stabbed, axed to death, strangled or buried alive as punishment for an indiscretion committed by someone else in the family.
After Adm. Mike Mullen shot his broadside at Pakistan's intelligence service last month, accusing it of helping the Haqqani militant group attack the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, Pakistani politicians responded with angry denunciations - followed by smug, sanctimonious assertions that Washington has no choice but to continue putting up with Pakistan, no matter what it does.
"You cannot afford to alienate Pakistan," Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar averred. And Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gilani confidently asserted: "You can't live with us - or without us."
Think again. A few days later, the Obama administration opened negotiations to improve relations with Uzbekistan, Afghanistan's authoritarian neighbor to the north. The purpose: to step up shipments of military supplies for American troops in Afghanistan using the "northern distribution route" rather than the route from Pakistan. Recently, Pakistani gunmen attacked one of those supply convoys, burning two trucks and killing a driver - the latest of numerous similar attacks.
FOREIGN MATTERS / U.S. cooling on Pakistan, warming to Uzbekistan
Late last month, the White House said, President Obama called Uzbekistan's president, Islam Karimov, to congratulate him on 20 years of independence from Russia - a month after the actual anniversary. That indicated the beginning of a serious charm offensive. A few days earlier, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a motion to lift restrictions prohibiting the United States from offering military assistance.
That set off Human Rights Watch and 20 other similar groups, bleating about Uzbekistan's poor human-rights record, including its habit of jailing human-rights officers and putting children to work.
Well, wait just a minute! Consider the alternative. Pakistan kills human-rights workers - and its own children. It uses gang rape as a government-sanctioned punishment. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan records several hundred incidents a year in which women and children are hanged, set ablaze, electrocuted, poisoned, stabbed, axed to death, strangled or buried alive as punishment for an indiscretion committed by someone else in the family.
