What Obama Didn’t Say

In his speech on Tuesday, Barack Obama revealed his ideas about the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, which include dispatching 30,000 more American soldiers. References to nearby Pakistan, where the target terrorists are, were extremely brief.

Along with the new Afghanistan strategy, the American president has also authorized an extension of secret operations in Pakistan. America’s presence in Pakistan would likely fuel the anti-Americanism movement in a country that had an aggressive reaction towards the attacks that took place on its territory.

This expansion of operations in Pakistan implies that attacks will occur in the southern province of Baluchistan, where the main Pakistani Taliban, who lead most of the attacks on American troops, and al Qaeda leaders are supposedly hiding. According to the New York Times, during the past few months, the CIA has provided the White House not only with classified evaluations on Afghanistan, but also with a project concerning the extension of drone attacks and the transmission of several spies in the country. Moreover, the CIA has obtained a commitment from the White House to increase the agency’s budget for this purpose.

James Jones, the U.S. National Security Adviser, sent a message to Islamabad, stating, “The president endorsed an intensification of the campaign against al Qaeda and its violent allies, including even more operations targeting terrorism safe havens.” The New York Times notes: “But the Pakistanis, suspicious of Mr. Obama’s intentions and his staying power, have not yet agreed.”

The USA is relatively short on legal means where Pakistani actions are concerned. They are relying on the actions of the Islamabad feeble government, as well as those of President Asif Ali Zaridari, who is often in conflict with the army and the country’s secret services. “The stakes are even higher within a nuclear-armed Pakistan, because we know that al Qaeda and other extremists seek nuclear weapons, and we have every reason to believe that they would use them,” Obama pointed out in his speech on Tuesday.

The fact that he mentioned the nuclear threat is notable, since many American officials have publicly declared lately that the Pakistani arsenal is safe. Even so, secret studies have been started, referring to how vulnerable the rockets and the Pakistani laboratories would be in the case of the insurgents going forward. “It is the scenario we most think about,” an American official recently declared.

Gen. Jones and other American officials have recently been visiting Pakistan. According to Asif Ali Zaridari, the Americans sent the message, “More people, more places, more operations.”