Ever wondered why Israel became India's second largest arms supplier in under 6 years???Why they supply everything from long range UAVS to cruise missile systems to long range early warning radars for missile defence???They see Pakistan as a latent threat,which can blow up any day & the only way they can keep Pakistan on it's toes is to tie up with India.Any "solution" to the Paki problem has to entail India,any other way just won't work in the long term-the Israelis have recognised it more than you think.Any instability in Pakistan is the last thing India needs-we have lost over 60,000 lives to those bastards & seen Hindu extremism rise up in response(making life not exactly comfortable for a Christian like me).
There are a few things that keep Pakistan together-the army ,the mullahs ,Arab money & Chinese weaponry & the occassional American aid grant.the Army & mullahs are kept together by hatred for India(being an Indian,i can vouch for that,try reading some of their websites).Zia Ul Haq ,started the process of radicalisation in Pakistan in 80s at the time of the Afghan -Soviet war.He 'islamised' the army(stopped sending officers to train in Britain,stopped playing Polo etc) & gave big incentives to Islamic groups ,which have mutated into the terror groups.The Mullahs & the generals feed off each other-the Mullahs have kept the generals in power,by not instigating the people & the Generals have obliged by giving the Mullahs & their ideology free reign over Kashmir & Afghanistani terror.Hate to be cynical,but Musharraf's steps to counter the Mullahs have been feeble(though u cannot blame him for that)-if he takes on the Mullahs,he risks a civil war,if he takes on the army & ISI.......
You have to factor China into the Pakistani equation to get even a semi-solid clue of the complexity of the mess here.China has been Pakistan's pre eminent ally for nearly 50 years-more than 60% of all Paki weapons & their nukes & missiles are of Chinese origin.Pakistan has bled India & enabled China to remain unchallenged on it's soft underbelly,Tibet(they do the same to Japan with North Korea).Do you honestly think that Beijing will allow Washington or anyone to defang Islamabad??If Pakistan loses it's current status-India would increase in clout & more importantly Islamic radicals in Zinjiang province & elsewhere will cut loose(Pakistan has helped China in crushing Islamic rebels).For solid evidence of the trust that China still has in Islamabad,look at the port that they are building on Pakistan's Makran coast (near Iran)-it will give Pakistan a buffer against the threat of an Indian attack on Karachi & grant Chinese shipping,naval or commercial a launching pad into the middle east.
It's not too late for us -- yet.
In any case, your points are well-taken, and all of your posts on this thread are worth reading. But America is on the march. The world order established before 1991 is now officially dead. The hopes anyone had that the great powers would retreat into their corners while globalism replaced cold war confrontations were crushed by the falling weight of the WTC. Some of us realize that this is all about Chinese strategy and Saudi financing.
You may have to endure some setbacks while we rankle among ourselves about what to do next. But it's clear to me that anything which sets China back strategically is good for the west, and good for global democracy.