Pakistan On the Precipice

Writing From Lahore, Pakistan -- Pakistan is still finding it difficult to accept that the forces it once created and nurtured, with a view toward influencing Afghanistan and crushing India in Kashmir, have now turned against their masters. Powerful elements within the Pakistan army still see the Taliban as an asset, which seems to account for their reluctance to move decisively in the Swat Valley or redeploy forces from the eastern border with India.

Yet in the last week alone, the Taliban has blown up a Pakistani school, kidnapped a dozen soldiers and beheaded at least two of them, and stormed and occupied government buildings, causing thousands of residents to flee. By one estimate, half a million people will be displaced over the next week.