This probably won't end well.
Parts of the Pakistani military and intelligence services are mounting what American officials here describe as a campaign to harass American diplomats, fraying relations at a critical moment when the Obama administration is demanding more help to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
The campaign includes the refusal to extend or approve visas for more than 100 American officials and the frequent searches of American diplomatic vehicles in major cities, said an American official briefed on the cases.
You know who isn't surprised?
Ahmed Rashid. In his book
Descent Into Chaos, he chronicles the double game that the Pakistani military, especially the
Inter-Services Intelligence, played with the U.S. in the aftermath of 9/11: professing to be our ally while all the while supporting the Taliban and other Jihadis both out of religious solidarity (at least for some ISI officers) and as an asset in its war with India.
The sad thing is that most Pakistanis hate the Taliban and the Jihadis. They really do. The vast majority are
Sufis whom the Salafists and
Deobandis regard as heretics. But they're not running the show -- the clowns in uniform who obsess over India are. This probably won't end well.
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