Plan B

All the major players in Afghanistan are either moving to plan B or searching for one. The most painful transition is in Washington, where President Barack Obama is taking his time to change his mind in the full glare of the media.

Nearly six weeks since the inconclusive debate on Afghanistan began in Washington, there is no decision yet from the White House on how to change a strategy that was launched with great fanfare only six months ago. In Kabul, President Hamid Karzai is said to be adapting to the international pressures upon him to accept that the first round of recent presidential polling was flawed and agree to a run off second round against his former foreign minister Abdullah.

The most impressive is Pakistan’s mastery at implementing plan B even as it wins credit for embarking on Plan A. Consider for example the Pak Army’s long awaited and much lauded military offensive into South Waziristan launched a few days ago. According to an Associated Press report from the Pak-Afghan border region, the Army is cutting deals with tribes that fight the Americans to maintain neutrality in the current war between the Mehsuds who had lent support to the Pak Taliban and the Pakistani state.

According to AP, “the deals increase the chances of an army victory against Pakistan’s internal enemy No. 1, but indicate that the 3-day-old assault into the Taliban’s strongholds in South Waziristan may have less effect than the US wants on a spreading insurgency across the border in Afghanistan.”

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