Washington must not get carried away by killing bin Laden. The only figure worth the risks of another raid would be bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Killing the Afghan Taliban leadership is madness, given that Washington must talk to them about a settlement. Instead, the US should reassure a thoroughly rattled and hostile Pakistani population, in part by cutting back on drone strikes. The danger is that a future US raid leads to a US-Pakistani fight, or a Pakistani mutiny. Then Washington, grotesquely, might contribute to the destruction of the Pakistani state it is trying to save, and a historic triumph for Islamist extremism. Pakistan's tragedy would then become one for the entire world.
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