Events in Pakistan along the Pak-Afghan border continue to remind us that the terrorist safe haven in that border area represents the greatest direct threat to the U.S. homeland. The Bush administration has increasingly put pressure on the Pakistani government to do more to address this threat. Unfortunately, after giving the Musharraf government a blank check for six years the new government and the Pakistani people are less inclined to be responsive. It’s time for a more effective and comprehensive strategy for dealing with Pakistan.

C.I.A. Deputy Director alleges connection between Pakistan’s Intelligence Agency, and Taliban militants operating in the country’s lawless north. The U.S. has ramped up pressure on the Pakistani government to take action against insurgents and militants operating along the country’s porous border with Afghanistan. According to a report by HMS, a firm that provides terror data to the U.S. military, attacks on Afghan targets originating in the lawless zone across the border have risen “61% in the first six months of this year to 434 from 269 during the same period last year.” In a sign of the White House’s increasing frustration, C.I.A. Deputy Director Stephen R. Kappes and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, travelled to Islamabad to confront Pakistan’s government and military with their concerns. “The C.I.A. assessment specifically points to links between members of the spy service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, and the militant network led by Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, which American officials believe maintains close ties to senior figures of Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas.” [USA Today, 7/30/08. NYTimes, 7/30/08]

Bush Administration officials voice skepticism over Pakistan’s appeal for greater intelligence sharing. In a move highlighting the increased frustration felt by the Bush Administration toward the new government in Islamabad, several officials voiced their concern that Pakistan is failing to take action against militants operating in the frontier provinces along the border with Afghanistan. One official, familiar with relations between the two governments commented that "The problem from our perspective has not been an absence of information going into the Pakistani government…It's an absence of action." [Washington Post, 7/30/08]

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Bush Administration increasingly at odds over counter-terrorism strategy. The U.S. has increasingly pushed for greater involvement in rooting out militants in Pakistan’s northwest border territories, evidenced by the recent Predator drone strikes on Al Qaeda and insurgent targets in Waziristan. But, in a sign of the growing disconnect between Washington and Islamabad, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who yesterday met with President Bush to discuss terrorism concerns, intimated that such strikes were a violation of Pakistani sovereignty. In response to questions on cross-border strikes, Gilani responded by saying “We believe in sovereignty of the country. And naturally, nobody likes it.” [AP, 7/29/08. NewsHour, 7/29/08]

Quick Hits

Amidst debate between the U.S., China and India over farm subsidies in both developed and developing countries, the latest round of Doha trade talks collapsed – another blow to the global economy.

During a closed session with members of the House Democratic Caucus, Barack Obama pledged to review Bush era executive orders and reverse any that he deemed to “trample on liberty.”

American and Iraqi forces began an offensive in the volatile Diyala province.

Internal organization battles and a burgeoning “turf war” threaten the viability of one of Iraq’s most important economic engines, South Oil Co.

With violence decreasing in Iraq, there are questions about the current status and future utility of the Sons of Iraq.

In a reversal, the IOC is now allowing the Iraqi Olympic team, consisting of two track and field athletes, to compete in the Beijing games. In another reversal, China, apparently cutting a deal with the IOC, has vowed to restrict media internet access to only those websites pertaining to the “Olympic competitions.”