Pakistan: U.S. not hunting bin Laden on its turf

[SHRED]

Pakistan: U.S. not hunting bin Laden on its turf
Top diplomat says no military action to catch extremists; tensions grow
The Associated Press
updated 5:11 p.m. PT, Sat., July. 12, 2008

NEW YORK - Pakistan's top diplomat said Saturday there are no U.S. or other foreign military personnel on the hunt for Osama bin Laden in his nation, and none will be allowed in to search for the al-Qaida leader.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said his nation's new government has ruled out such military operations, covert or otherwise, to catch militants.

"Our government's policy is that our troops, paramilitary forces and our regular forces are deployed in sufficient numbers. They are capable of taking action there. And any foreign intrusion would be counterproductive," he said Saturday. "People will not accept it. Questions of sovereignty come in."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25654471

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"...none will be allowed...".
Allowed?
WTF?

Where's our "tough-on-terrorism", "keeping us safe" leader?
You know the "dead or alive" and "smoke 'um out" guy?

Where did he go?

[Igel]

1. It's an interesting catch-22.

Piss of the Pakistanis, and they'll go back to funding their anti-India campaign in Afghanistan. That can make life as messy as it was in the '80s and '90s, under people, well, like Bhutto and Sharif.

It's unlikely that Zardari or Sharif would do anything to rein in the militants, unless they're personally threatened, but there's a chance.

Do you go for certain hell or gamble on the small chance? Pakistan's been playing that game for a while, with Musharraf being better at fighting than Sharif's likely to be (having fewer ties with militants than Sharif), but Zardari's trying hard to avoid conflict. Even if it means more deaths, as long as he pays no political price. His base is in the city, and away from FATA/NWFP. Kilani, I think, is biding his time. I don't have a sense as to whether he perceives the threat from FATA or if he still is focused on India.

As for popular opinion, it goes this way: Americans kill us, bad; we kill Americans, well, it's unlikely, so let's not think about it. Foreign Muslims kill us, we need to do something about it, but having the Americans kill them is worse than having them kill us. It's the usual hierarchy: If confronted from outside of your group, you're loyal to your group and hostile to the outsider by default. Muslim, Pakistani, Pakhtun, Mehsud or Wazir, or subtribe or clan. The Arabs and Uzbeks are still Muslim, so outrank Americans. One bit of complication is that "Pakistani" and "Pakhtun" only partially overlap, so some Pakhtun are potentially more loyal to other Pakhtun Taliban than to Pakistan.