Obama and McCain on Pakistan

I thought that both were good in their remarks on Afgh-Pak in the debate on Friday. Both were also bad. Obama's hard-line approach on Afghanistan is right. His support for building a stronger democratic state in Pakistan, rather than just supporting whoever is in power there, is right. His implication that Musharraf wasn't even trying to help us and his assumption that any Pakistani government is able to be more than 70% allied with us without toppling is wrong. McCain's realistic view that if Pakistan is even trying to help us that is the best they can do is right. His defense of our blind support for Musharraf is wrong as is his declaration that Pakistan was a "failed state" before Musharraf took power. It's not Afghanistan. It's not the Congo. Just because the government was fucked up that does not mean that there were no roads, military, or food. McCain's idea of having a "surge" in Afghanistan is also wrong, as it's estimated that this would require 500,000 troops. It sounds like McCain would be more likely to stop the cross-border raids, but they didn't address the question directly.  However, we should temporarily stop the cross-border raids.

We are ruining our ability to destroy Al Qaeda by continuing these raids right now. Pakistan is pissed at us for it. They think they can handle things there on their own. They say that they can get Bajaur under control in two months. We should say, fine, you have two months. We won't cross the border for two months, and if Bajaur is under control then we'll stay on our side while you continue to fight. But, if it's not under control in two months, then we're really coming in and you're going to like it.

By the way, a system of tunnels? I think I've heard that somewhere before. . .

Also, I think that in light of how embarrassed we were to have Palin meeting world leaders, this Pakistani's embarrassment that their president was hitting on her (less than a year after his wife was gruesomely assassinated no less!) is kind of funny.  But it actually sounds like we should trust Zardari, even with his "colorful" Swiss corruption investigations.  That's because he wants to take on the extremists, and he's fueled by revenge.