U.S. wants continued presence in the region with long term plan of hegemony
wants to control oil and gas rich regions with strategic control over Karachi port
have already Kuwait ,Iraq and Afghanistan under its military might

Very good analysis, indeed. The author has rightly identified some of the of the key challenges Pres. Zardari is facing and that is the Pak Army, Economic Breakdown and the Political Divisiveness, some of which are his own creaion resulting from mediocre leadership, poor strategy and complete lack of vision.

America's biggest fear now is that of the safekeeping of thePakistan's Nuclear Assests. It has come to the point where all US strategic decisions are now driven off of Pak's Nuclear Cards.

usa has no option but to support army which is only institution is stable. all other pillar of democracy are unstable and are at mercy of pak. army. the pak. is most unstable country unfotunately with nukes. US can only rely on army in any eventuality like fall of islamabad at the hand of taliban. the nukes are secured as on today an can be secured for tommorrow. but if any of the fanatic general sucumed to taliban than god only save usa, india and isarel.

Well,Democracy or no Democracy??Its not a matter of concern for the US.It just sees its strategic interests like the supply route to Afghanistan is safe.We saw it when Bush supported Mush.In a way its justificable.Thats because civilian govt in Pak has been totally unable to control the Talibans aggresion.It would be a disaster for India as well as the whole world if Taliban gets hold of Pak's Nucler Assets.So US is rightly pushing pressure on Pak's govt before it becomes too late.

There can be no hope for Pakistan or for that matter the world unless the Pakistani themselves realize the life they are living and mend their ways. At least shun politicos who profess the 'B' Business. What was Pakistan doing for the last 60 years for living?!! Nothing but "B" businesses. It is either Black marketing(selling nuclear tech), Black mailing, Black mailing(US and the world) that they have terrorists, Begging( Saudi, US and China), Smuggling(Korean missile and nuclear tech). So unless they let go of this third class life and start living a dignified life probably they will have some respect. The have nothing called a national econonmy!!! Still it survives!!! PAKISTAN PLEASE LEARN TO LIVE A DIGNIFIED LIFE BY HARDWORK! STOP BEGGING !!!!

Worth noting that many senior Members of the US Congress are not on board with any "signalling" to the Pak military. And Congress sets the foreign assistance levels and "conditions."

No offense but I don't agree with Indrani Bagchi on this article.I think she should have done some more research before writing this article.

I don't agree US don't like democracy in Pakistan.The reasons for my analysis are:-

1. Pakistani president is called Mr 10% in media ie whatever he promises he will give 10% of that.
In short he never keeps his words.

2.Its a well known fact in western and eastern media that Zardari has no control over Pakistani army(remember Nawaz shariff's rally) and he is like puppet in army's hands. That's why Nuke powered Pakistan is unstable. In short a spineless leader.

3.Terrorism has made inroads in Pakistan.Earlier it was confined to western province,now it has reached as close as 60miles from Islamabad.Mr Zardari failed on security front.

4.Recently many US lawmakers have attacked pakistani government for ISI support to taliban and other extrimist groups.Also signing of "peace treaty" with taliban acted like a last nail in coffin.

I remember Zardari's remark(pakistan's help group) "Pakistan is a victim of terrorism and world should pay for it to get rid of it!"

Ever heard any nation head begging so shamelessly?
This is Mr Zardari,Pakistani president.

An excellent analysis. The US promotion of democracy project in Pakistan or elsewhere is not to be taken seriously.At the same time when pretends to a virtue, one is often compelled to comply.

this message should reach all newspapers in india and abroad and all indians in particular.OBAMA is under the influence of pakistani ISI all these days not some sub agent of india.so what ever he says about india is serious till the pakistani isi is fully destroyed.INFLUENCING game is over all over the world.THE building of chinese naval base in srilanka should wake up indian intelligence settled abroad .the raj of india particularly towards srilanka has literally collapsed and has left many real pakistani agents including citizens of pakistan thrive in india with no people to track or take counter action against the,.it is just this what indian intellignece decide ,the information goes to isi subagents who mostly are either INFLUENCED as cias,raw or isi itself then pakistani ISI decides to do what next.this network should be busted all over the world

Looks like the author of the blog is pro-pakistani.

Your blogs are really disguesting..are you the follower of the commis and junk Karat. Do us a favour...stop writing anything.

Indeed an excellent article that highlights Pakistan's fragility in many ways. I am Pakistani and i do regret the "indian obsession" inherent in Pakistan foriegn policy, maybe this is jealousy? If we invested in education and the new economy then perhaps Paksitan could mirror a segment of Indian sucess.

I propose that India should be allowed to become one of the main members of the UN security council and in return India and Pakistan should consider joint soverignity of Kashmir without any borders. India should also get the Oylmpic games and world cup football games in the coming two decades...I doubt though Pakistan will be a functioning country by then, which is a shame for me and my relatives of Lahore.

Long live India and I just hope Pakistan lives!

well,america has olwez seen itz own interest everywhere b it in saudi, iraq o nw d af-pak. But herez a blend we talkin abt an irresponsible nuclear nation who in itself is unstable from d time it has byn established.The fact is d leaderz nt efficient to curb d menace of al qaida taliban n many mre such grps. until unless they dun stp pamperin these grps n co-ordinate i.s.i to sme useful job then just concentratin on peaceful india nthn wud happn

D/Sir,Any attempt to influence the Islamic countries is difficult as we see in israel,Afganis
tan,Pakistan,Iraq etc.It is best if every soverign
country honours sovereignty of other countries.If Saddam Husain was a terror and a dictator for his People no other country possibly could help them unless they wanted any help.Economic AID is one thing at times of some disaster or in case of urgent economic slow down through World Bank loan
etc. but any AID with political or strategic STRINGS would naturally lead to complications because most of the ISLAMIC countries are divided
from within and no one knows what they want.They are happy sometimes with lage families,many wives,

old feudal/tribal systems and at the same time they maintain modern Millitary with partly secular and partly Fundamenlist background.If every thing is taken care of tussle between SUNNI & SHIAS remain.When Iraq's problem is getting over, IRAN is brewing up.If Afghanistan is taken care of Pakistan is rising its head.There is no chance of PEACE with outside interfearance.Because
ISLAMIC countries either like MILLTARY RULE supported by Fundamentalists or Fundamentalists
RULE supported by Millitary.Smooth Democracy and I
SLAM may not coexist.Example Bangladesh,Indonesia,
IRAN,IRAQ,QUAIT& Pakistan.In Saudi also there is no democracy.So more the powerful countries look
within and to find peace instead of trying to seek
peace for other countries that will be better world wide.We must use the good offices of United Nations in case of eventuality when the people of any country may refer to them in cases of Need.

Very well said!

Actually,having allied itself with Pakistan for so long,America today does not know what to do with that unstable country.When there was at least some semblance of order under Musharraf,the American liberal establishment campaigned for his ouster for restoration of democracy.And after the election Americans realized the situation was worse.So,all those great geniuses in the State Department are at their wit's end.

The article has merit but it is not gospel truth. Pakistan is in bad shape and current government is in-capacitive to deliver the goods. Neither can army. Zardari is not the cause of the grass root problem - Talbanisation, Indo border problem, economy, terrorism et al. Its upto Pakistani people to see what is good and bad for them. They need to give a clear mandate to a strong leader. Nawaz looks the most capable of the current lot. US is finding ways to come out of recession - this may be just one of their tactics. Obama has too many problems of his own - Let him fix those before he thinks about happenings elsewhere.

This is a good summary, where the author sums up the problems impacting our neighbouring nation in a nutshell. The highlight of the case being the beam of light thrown upon Musharraf's term in the office, which has caused so much damage that it will take years to recover.

Pakistan is a tribal area and should be treated as such.They ate over 12 billion dollars and did not build a hospital,or school,Engineering or Medical school.Who ate and digested that money and where is that money.This area called Pakistan does not deserve any more money and needs to hand over A.Q.Khan now and needs to explain where are the weapons of mass destruction now and are they safe.Why Obama,Kerry,Biden and Clinton are so adamant on putting these people on the money milk like we have Israel, Egypt,and PLO.

Show the results. Just democracy for name sake will not do. Presidents or leaders of the country must show the results. The guy in pak is not able to do any thing, not elected properly so better a functioning government may be military hed should be prefred.

Good analysis...US knew everything from the very first.They should stop playing the drama with IND and PAK. even I believe that US is trying to break IND & PAK's backbone because these two country's have more capability than them. US gives the ammunition to PAK and offers condolence to IND so that both the country will suffer. They PAK is extremist and IND is unorganized.

What I am surprised is that people like Indrani Bagchi are just interested in such left leaning rhetoric (s it even left oriented any way? or just a topic decided by our feudalistic politician chiefs and top editors and anchors - to be followed by all under them?)
USA has been pouring millions actually billions in Pakistan - most of that money will go to army or corrupt politicians and will be used against India ( and also against usa and western powers ) by arms build up or finance of proxy terrorist organizations. Do we see any of our journalists editors or anchors analyzing these aspects and questioning Americans and Western powers about their shots against us and in long run against themselves. NO! all we see is such useless rehtoric. Let us hope we have better days of media, press and blogs by professional journalists decisions by politicians. Though it may belong wait time being.

Bring back George W. Bush. If he didnt like things he would do regime change

Well presented set of thoughts and Observations. I am with you on the kind of solution that had been offered in terms of increasing Civilian Aid in Pakistan and reducing the Military Aid. The teeth for the Army in Pakistan and its off-shoot the ISI should be removed and they should be confined to the Barracks and protecting its borders on all side where ever they really see trouble brewing from external forces.

Wrong analysis Inrani Bagachi. If you think a few thousand talibans can over run the country, then you are just advocating false propganda. Open you eyes, do some homework and then write an article. There is abigger conspiracy against Pakistan then just the Talibans. And by the way how do 3 or 4 thosuand talibans pose danger to the world? As distatseful as the Taliban rukes was In Afghanistan, they did not pose a danger to the world,just to people of Afgahnistan. But so did the Russians and now USA and all other invaders. Perhaps colobilaism is still acceptable to the likes of Indirani bachi???

USA is too slow in acting. It is well known that Al Qaeda and other
terrorist organizations in Pakistan can easily place its people within the organizations that manage nuclear assets and at the right time they can take control and move weapons to secret locations for deployment. Zardari has little control and the army is already known to be sympathetic to the Islamic movement. This show of acting against Taliban is for american consumption. Large number of Pakistanis do not trust Americans and would willingly become accomplice against India or America. Time is running short. USA better act or lest will repent later.

I just have to say 1 thing.

We India should Not Back our troops. We have a Moral threat against these Pakistani Terrorists. If we Bring Our Army Back. It will be easy for the Terrorist to Infiltrate. Let US say to us to back our army behind, But we should not listen to them. 1st it was Afghanistan Then Iraq now Pakistan and Iran.. Who next ?? India ??? NO .. we should not let America Influence our Decisions. America is a selfish Nation. It will only look to safeguard its people and property. We have to take care of ourselves.

The US has enough nuclear weapons to obliterate this earth, 7 times over. In other words, using just 14% of their Nukes, they can wipe out this planet. My opinion is that instead of sending 20000 additional troops to the Afghanistan region, all they would need to do is to drop a couple of guided nukes into the lawless NWFP region of Pakistan. Half the world's problems would evaporate in 10 seconds. Sure it would be a PR nightmare but the world will be able to breathe a lot easier with those malcontents being wiped away.

I think the fundamental solution to the problem of Pakistan is to divide Pakistan, just like Yugoslavia.

Four major provinces should and will be created

1) Baluchistan
2) Sindh
3) Panjab
4) Northern Regions

This will not happen immediately, but in the due course, this should and and will happen.

The article is quite good. A nation whose main source of income is selling arms cannot be a promoter of World Peace. The arms have to be sold to people who are in problem and if there is no problem then create one.

It is such a sorry sight to see pakistan in its current situation. I think running a country on the basis of a religion is deadly mix. They look so lost they do not know what is good for them peace or religion. It cannot co-exist for the simple reason that if an individual human needs a freedom then the constitution has to ensure it for the dignity of human life. But if it is run through religion the freedom get centralized along the lines of sex! So you are no more human to enjoy freedom - you are either Man or a Woman!!!! This is really so sad. I hope Pakistan survives and gets back to be a democracy thriving democracy. Let People of Pakistan know that we (Indian) wish you you live out to be a great and thriving country. So please let get carried away by your politicos that we are always conspiring your end. Stop getting worked up on hating us. Wish you all the best.

Elections do not make a democracy, or even a republic. Pakistan is a multi-party plutocracy. The U.S. is a two-party plutocracy.

Pak will be completly taken over by Taliban in a few months if things continue to happen in the way they have been happening. The Govt of Pak cannot handle the present situation, only solution is a group of nations coming together take complete control over Pak's policies & clear the mess within a time frame, but this also looks impractical in the present world scenario but its the only way out for Pak before it gets ruined completly in the hands of senseless fundamentalists. The world has to understand that the Pak govt & military can only commit but cannot live upto their commitments as there are too many people running the show, so you have a situation where there is no consensus of what has to be done, so nothing significant is done on the ground to root out the menace of extreemists.

It is all very well for Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, to lecture Pakistan about putting its house in order, but she would first do well to examine America's own contribution to the dramatic deterioration in the country's security situation, I am surprised to read all the comments and Blog and most have them do not have any substance I have lived in Pakistan.The nature of Islam is such that all its peoples and regions are vulnerable.The wider it spreads the more people will be vulnerable.Western governments,most notably our own in Westminster,are making an error as it meddles in Islamic politics in Islamic territory whilst simultaneously advocating,supporting and furthering the spread of Islam in its own territory.The potato is getting very hot and needs to be dropped quick sharp.Both dialogue and conflict with these people is futile,the former confounds logic and the latter increases hatred.Far better to leave these people to their own devices and view the situation as an unpleasant curiosity.Islam cannot invade the West except through stealth and immigration,it poses no threat regarding a land invasion.If left to its own devices the begging bowl will be out within a decade,then we can actually help them,providing that the political/ideological agenda has diminished. Indians seems obsession on Pakistan after 63 years of Birth

Probably,its a high time for all of us of South Asians to see the realities on ground especially, specific, to Pakistan.Pakistan is suffering beyond its own control,being located geographically at a point which has attracted the attention of world powers.In close proximity of trade route,china,Russia,Central Asian states and above all by possessing the Nuc weapons.
USA,Israel and India are striving hard to destabilize Pakistan and then to reduce it into small,tiny pieces to dissipate its influence and power.

This seems like 'Blame the US for Everything' cottage industry. Why don't we realize that democracy was not suspended so many times in Pakistan by the US president - but by the Pakistani army. And each time the Pakistani people seemed to welcome it.
The US just like so many other countries is interested in securing it's vital interests in Pakistan, and would have not be bothered with that country except when it affects the US directly. This is what happened post Afghan war - when US left Pakistan to it's own devices. Pakistanis now cite this to blame the US for the taliban mess. Its like damned if you do and damned if you dont. Why do we expect the US to do something about democracy when the very people of Pakistan are not bothered ? 60 years after indipendence and partition Pakistani's do not even have a modern progressive constitution that ensures equal rights to it's citizens. Feudalism has not been weakened leave alone dismantled. It's polity has deteriorated over the years - and not does not even seem capable of throwing up any good ideas or leaders. Over the years it's people have become steadily addicted to the opium of militant islamism. Are we saying that the US is to blame for all this ?
The US is simply not bothered about the state of democracy in Pakistan - but it is the Pakistanis themselves who do not like democracy in Pakistan.

I though the British left India 60 years ago. But it turns out divide and rule are still firmly in place. Indians need to realise that their political establishment is still subservient to the Western powers and the World Bank etc. Their gains with these imperialists will be short lived if not plenty and then they'll have to start making peaceful with these troubled states of Pakistan and Bangladesh. Honestly, you'd think that the 160 million muslims in India did not exist by these articles. They hate Islam and Muslims so much but how they love their Taj Mahal.

U. S. doesn't care for any systme of government; it only cares for the one that suits its age old criminal activity - U. S. calls it strategic interest- of terrorising the region to subdue India and formerly Soviet Union, now Russia through its henchman, Pakistan. This is how mafias work: mafia bosses go around drssed up in suits and ties and travelling in limousins while their hit men do the killings and exploitation. U. S. has consistently supplied Pakistani dictatorships arms, weapons, money and technical training to carry out missions against India, the largest democracy of the World. U. S only preaches democracy.

Everyone is fully aware of some of America's double standard policies. However, If america is to win the respect of the world it should pursue its foreign policies extremely carefuly. It is this double standard, why I dont like India alligning it self with America. However I understand india has not got much choice for the time being, considering China's increasing hostility towards it. If we are to counter foreign interference from America etc. in South Asian region, we should look ahead 50-100 yrs ahead. I think the whole region can benefit by forming a South Asian union. We should learn from the european union (EU), many of the founding members of EU like France ,Germany ,Italy fought wars amongst each other for 100s of yrs, but they put their difference away to form a great union. If India ,Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Slanka put their differences away, they too can become very strong and powerful. China too could come together in this union, but curently China thinks, it can dominate the entire world on its own. This may be v true, but it is yet to be seen. One can not write off India as a possible contender for the world leader. Who knows? If It's background of Maths has led to it being the world leader of Info Technology. It's background of Maths and Astronomy together with its current and future space programmes could make India the world Superpower ahead of China or America.

Indian Obsession about Pakistan.When will it end.
A country five time the size of Pakistan is getting sleepness nights especially the indian arm force
Imagine ten years back Pakistan had four world cups in sports(cricket,hockey, squash and snooker) and they are still capable of achieving.
It is indian dream to come closer to it.
It will always remain their dream

America is involved, because they want to eliminate/reduce risk, even being 13000 miles away.The are making an attempt.

We,spineless and week india, are doing absolutly nothing.We were merely a spectator to growth of taliban strength happing just few hundred miles from our borders.

They come and kill 200 people, we dont even stone the perpetrator to death,instead, the PM shakes hand with pak.

Terrorists grew strength from strength killing indians and now has become menance for the entire world.

We are afraid of pakistan, tomorrow if china launces an offensive,cant imagine whats gonna happen.

ZAFAR AKHTAR

It seems you are out of your mind and have no clue as to what you are talking about??? It’s the other way around. Pakistan thinks, drinks and sleeps India 24/7 365 days a year. It has no other policy nor work except indulging in India bashing and staying madly obsessed with India.
India cares too hoots abt Pak and does not give a space to it. Its just because it meddles in our affairs and indulges in terror attacks. Its game today is exposed and it stands exposed stark naked before the whole world. It has not a semblance of shame and not an iota of respect worldwide. No wonder, Pakistanis staying abroad say that they are Indians or Asians when they are asked as to who they are. A country just 25% the size of India , it indulges in terror attacks across the world and any attack in the world fingers point to Pakistan, the hotbed of terrorism.
When will your mad country obsession with India end?? Always having sleepless nights abt India. Imagine, twenty years back India had four world cups – cricket, hockey, billiards and chess. It is not capable of exceeding it, but achieves far greater laurels. It is this Indian dream that is haunting Paki and will sadly to say always remains a dream. Help your country survive rather than talk like a aimless rascal.