A suicide bomber snuck into a paramilitary police base last night and blew himself up, killing 8 policemen. This follows a similar attack on March 23rd, but in that case only claimed the life of one policeman. These attacks go to show the rapidly worsening situation in Pakistan, when policemen aren’t even safe at their bases from radical Islamic terrorists. The entire western half of Pakistan is under extreme duress, and it is hard to eliminate the problem due to a number of factors. Firstly, the terrain is extremely rugged and hard to navigate or even find suspected insurgents. Secondly, the region is extremely tribal, where the people are largely uneducated and more apt to accept the Taliban’s policies and harbor terrorists. Thirdly, the government of Pakistan is riddled with quiet supporters of the Taliban and movements of that nature, particularly in the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence service.
The reason for all this attention is because Pakistan shares a huge border with Afghanistan, stretching from its southernmost points all the way east and into the northern regions. If the country of Pakistan is rapidly destabilizing (and destabilizing the entire region), then all progress made in Afghanistan by the coalition forces will be inhibited, slower, and even negatively affected. The US government must do everything in its power to “right the ship” in Pakistan, utilizing the military, CIA, and renewed diplomatic efforts. We must become friendlier with Pakistan in order for both parties to reach a happy conclusion to their separate but intertwined issues.
