Don't Forget about Pakistan!

From Muck: While Iraq and Afghanistan continue to dominate discussions of global terrorism, Pakistan appears to have quietly emerged as the real central front in the "war on terror." After their expulsion from Afghanistan in 2002, Al Qaeda and Taliban forces have used the remote North-West frontier of Pakistan to reorganize and grow. Attacks on American and NATO troops in Afghanistan have undergone a dramatic increase over the last three months. An increase, the New York Times points out, is being driven largely by Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters residing in Pakistan. The Pakistani government, led by new President Asif Ali Zardari (widower of prime minister Benazir Bhutto), has refused to allow US troops to pursue these fighters into Pakistan (although this has not stopped the US). On Tuesday, Pakistan's army announced that it had ordered its troops to open fire on US troops if they launch another raid into Pakistan. Christopher Hitchens has gone so far as to talk of a potential Afghan-Pakistan war. Given gravity of the situation, one would hope that the issue takes a more significant role in the US presidential debate.