Should U.S. Still Be Selling Millions In Military Hardware To Pakistan?
By Cliff Montgomery – May 18th, 2008 The sale of American arms to Pakistan recently was the subject of a short congressional study. Because Pakistan shares a border with Afghanistan–the nation which for years had been the center of operations for Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda–a firm U.S.-Pakistan alliance was virtually ensured after the Sept. 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. But Pakistan is hardly a stable nation. The country itself is a terrorist base for those working to destabilize India, Kashmir and Afghanistan. And Pakistan’s troops have conducted essentially ineffectual counter-terrorism operations throughout the nation’s western tribal regions, where al-Qaeda now is believed to have its world-wide operations center. And there are questions about Pakistan’s commitment to furthering freedom and democratic change. In late 2007, President Pervez Musharraf began a six-week-long “emergency rule,” which had more to do with a personal desire for absolute power than anything else. Parliament
