As Pakistani troops are deployed to repulse future American incursions, Daniel Larison of The American Conservative notes the support within both of American's main parties for continuing to send American troops into Pakistan to fight the Taliban:
"[T]hese incursions have been administration policy for the better part of a year, and they are the recommended policy of a future Obama administration, and the conventional wisdom among both Bush and Obama supporters is that this is a brilliant idea. Trotskyites and Obamacons agree–stand up to Pakistan! By stand up, of course, they must mean fight, since that is what implementing their plan will require.
... [This situation] requires reconsidering what U.S. interests dictate, and it seems fairly clear that they do not dictate entering into open conflict with the Pakistani military. Were our forces to engage Pakistan’s military, the consequences would be dire for the cohesion of the country, which is indeed every bit as artificial and unstable as Iraq, and for regional stability. Let’s be very clear about this: if we stir up Pakistan against our presence in that part of the world, we will end up losing whatever gains we have made in Afghanistan and will turn one of the largest Muslim states in the world, and the only one with nuclear weapons, from an unreliable ally to an open enemy."
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