Pakistan's a state sponsor of terror and has been for a few decades now. We've given them somewhere around 19 billion dollars in aid yet many of the weapons used to kill troops in Afghanistan are procured in PK and some with money from the PK gov't. The manufacturer of most of those weapons? China.
The broad strokes of a relationship are the same even if the relationship itself is very complex. A one night stand or a single date becomes a girlfriend then a fiancée...and the next thing you know there's a mortgage, a couple of kids, and gazillion dollar weapons deals. China and PK's relationship has grown over the years and continues to grow. PK has manipulated superpowers since the Soviets rolled into the 'hood back in '79. You could argue that goes back a little further given Major Powers' launch site...
Sometimes the how and why are irrelevant and the scoreboard is the only thing that matters. Right now China's Facebook page probably has a lot of party photos with Pakistan tagged in them. If we can't change that (unlikely) then we need to marginalize the relationship. Sure, maybe India's standing in the way, but no matter how recalcitrant even India will have to wake up soon. Their influence wanes and we could really use a partner in the region.
So PK is doing a bang-up job with it's nuclear program and weapons. Yay (golf clap)....still a sponsor of terrorists. Still helping to kill everyone in Afghanistan. Still doing the above with arms purchased in China. Still harbored UBL while cashing our checks. Still, still, still...Even if their nukes and nuke programs are locked down with nothing to worry, we can't trust them. India certainly can't trust them. PK operates training camps for the express purpose of sending jihadists to Kashmir. So the only reason to trust them is what? They don't want a dirty bomb traced back to them with the accompanying repercussions? I can buy that as part of a stable gov't, but individuals with power and access? That's when my faith in them breaks down. The country has teetered on the edge of boiling over for at least a decade; internally the country isn't that secure or stable.
Their track record sucks and we're naive if we think no one in the gov't with access isn't thinking about how to put this material in the hands of the wrong people.
The broad strokes of a relationship are the same even if the relationship itself is very complex. A one night stand or a single date becomes a girlfriend then a fiancée...and the next thing you know there's a mortgage, a couple of kids, and gazillion dollar weapons deals. China and PK's relationship has grown over the years and continues to grow. PK has manipulated superpowers since the Soviets rolled into the 'hood back in '79. You could argue that goes back a little further given Major Powers' launch site...
Sometimes the how and why are irrelevant and the scoreboard is the only thing that matters. Right now China's Facebook page probably has a lot of party photos with Pakistan tagged in them. If we can't change that (unlikely) then we need to marginalize the relationship. Sure, maybe India's standing in the way, but no matter how recalcitrant even India will have to wake up soon. Their influence wanes and we could really use a partner in the region.
So PK is doing a bang-up job with it's nuclear program and weapons. Yay (golf clap)....still a sponsor of terrorists. Still helping to kill everyone in Afghanistan. Still doing the above with arms purchased in China. Still harbored UBL while cashing our checks. Still, still, still...Even if their nukes and nuke programs are locked down with nothing to worry, we can't trust them. India certainly can't trust them. PK operates training camps for the express purpose of sending jihadists to Kashmir. So the only reason to trust them is what? They don't want a dirty bomb traced back to them with the accompanying repercussions? I can buy that as part of a stable gov't, but individuals with power and access? That's when my faith in them breaks down. The country has teetered on the edge of boiling over for at least a decade; internally the country isn't that secure or stable.
Their track record sucks and we're naive if we think no one in the gov't with access isn't thinking about how to put this material in the hands of the wrong people.
