Is Pakistan A Rogue State?

Inferno: Lahore's public places have been targeted a number of times over the last year.
Photo from The Daily Mail.

None Dare Call it a Rogue State -- Zen Pundit

Reader Isaac, points to an excellent analytical overview of Pakistan’s national nervous breakdown at Dawn.com, by Nadeem F. Paracha. It is a lengthy but stupendous post with some 200 + comments:

Little monsters

There is nothing new anymore about the suggestion that over a span of about 30 odd years, the Pakistani military and its establishmentarian allies in the intelligence agencies, the politicised clergy, conservative political parties and the media have, in the name of Islam and patriotism, given birth to a number of unrestrained demons which have now become full-fledged monsters threatening the very core of the state and society in Pakistan.

Read more ....

My Comment: Long time readers of this blog know that I have always been skeptical (and critical) of Pakistani politics, their news media, their security forces, their embedded culture of corruption, their education system,and their economy. And yes .... I realized a long time ago that they are completely unreliable as an ally.

But are they a rogue state?

I would say that half of the country has some sense of central government control .... the other half is a mix of tribal/provincial/ethnic groups and interests. If this is what makes a rogue state .... then Pakistan is definitely a rogue state. But fortunately .... on the big issues .... the central government does exercise a considerable amount of authority, and they do assist us. They permit predator drone strikes on their territory, they have captured for us senior Al Qaeda leaders, and they permit (at great expense to us) the shipment of goods and resources through their territory to Afghanistan.

But the big question that needs to be asked is .... can they maintain this authority in the foreseeable future and still be a worthwhile ally to us as we expand the war and its scope in Afghanistan. The answer to that question is uncertain at the moment because the situation in Pakistan is becoming even more "screwed up" .... and I am not sure if everything can be salvageable. I guess only time will give us the answer to this question, but since President Obama's speech at West Point.... he has made it very clear that time is one luxury that we do not have.