Abstract
The US-Pakistan strategic dialogue, the third bilateral summit, ended recently with the US pledge to increase aid for Pakistan's military by $2 billion. The US urged its ''ally'' to crack down on the extremist militants in north Waziristan. The uncomfortable truth is that in a void of morality, the Pakistani military declares that by taking on the Afghan Taliban it would be pushing Pakistan over a precipice of disintegration. Such claims are grounded on a flimsy pretext. The collusion between the Pakistani military and the Taliban reveals Pakistan's long-standing strategy of using religious extremists for geopolitical interests. The point of this strategy is to cut deals with the Taliban, with the proviso that the Pakistani military spy agency (ISI) would back the al-Qaeda affiliated Taliban as long as they crossed the border and kept fighting inside Afghanistan.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 2 |
| Journal | Sydney Morning Herald |
| Volume | 3 Nov. |
| Publication status | Published - 2010 |