The problem now is that Afghanistan is pretty much a taliban tool. They creep in, build their forces and then we go and wipe it out. Move to a different area, rinse and repeat.
Probably part of their strategy. Making every battlefield victory of the US and allied forces in Afghanistan seem rather meaningless.
If they didn't do this and just stayed in Pakistan we wouldn't have to tip toe around the situation anymore.
Never expect your enemy to cooperate with you.
The world would turn on Pakistan, they would crumble to our demands and then we could start putting serious ground forces in.
Not necessarily. If Pakistan felt that having groups sympathetic to the Taliban was in their best national interest they would not cave in to America's demands. And they know the US and allies do not have the stomach to invade Pakistan on top of Afghanistan and Iraq. Again, do not underestimate the other's resolve. They may not have much high speed gear and they may not sport Oakleys, but that doesn't mean they don't have any fight in them. Unfortunately for us, groups like the various insurgents in Iraq, Al Qaeda and the Taliban have empowered just about anyone who is at odds with the US. It truly sucks.
Who knows, maybe they will completely turn their backs on the taliban when they start to get tired of the attacks.
Yes, only if the Pakistanis feel that the Taliban or other groups hostile to the US forces are a threat to THEIR national security will they proceed to engage them. And even then, quite possibly in ways we don't want them to. i.e. they will engage such and such groups, but will stand by firmly with this other group which is completely in support of Pakistan but still engages US forces.
Then they let us send in smaller contentions to implement their forces on a larger scale. It seems like this latter trend is very possible. We have CIA there and I read an article on two SF soldiers who died while with Pakistan troops.
Nobody knows these guys better than the Pakistanis.
