Posted on 05/11/2009 3:35:00 PM PDT by nickcarraway
As the Pakistani military pressed its campaign to root out Taliban militants from three districts northwest of the capital, a recent poll showed that an overwhelming majority of Pakistanis did not consider terrorism to be the most important issue facing the country, but instead ranked the economy at the top.
The poll was released Monday by the International Republican Institute , a nonprofit group based in Washington that is affiliated with the Republican Party and promotes democracy abroad. The survey also showed that 81 percent of the respondents said they thought that the country was headed in the wrong direction.
Most blamed President Asif Ali Zardari, and his approval rating was just 19 percent. But an overwhelming majority still said they preferred an unstable democracy to a military dictatorship.
The poll was taken in March before the Taliban flooded into neighboring districts from their stronghold in the Swat Valley, and before the government opened its campaign to push the militants back. It clearly shows the challenges facing the government as it tries to mobilize Pakistanis behind its fight, particularly as the civilian toll of the campaign widens.
Pakistanis have long been reluctant to take on the Taliban, who are fellow Muslims and Pakistanis. The poll, for instance, revealed strong support for the February peace agreement with the Taliban in Swat. Eighty percent said they supported the pact, and 74 percent said they thought the deal would bring peace to the region.
That deal has now fallen apart, with the Taliban and the government blaming each other for its breakdown.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Pakistan will be BO’s next Vietnam.
You can not defeat your enemy if you can’t articulate why your enemy is wrong. You can’t defeat him if you admire him and believe you have common cause with him. You can’t defeat him if you don’t want to defeat him and get a thrill everytime your enemy wins. You can’t defeat your enemy if he is really not your enemy and you are really on his side.
Pakistan is circling the drain.
A lot of the “moderate Muslims” of Pakistan don’t seem to think the Taliban is all that bad. They didn’t in Swat till they found out the hard way.
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