Pentagon Report: Pakistan Constantly ‘Undermining’ Afghan War

Report to Congress Continues to Praise Occupation's 'Success'

The latest in the Pentagon’s twice-yearly reports to Congress continue to praise the putative successes of the Afghan War, successes that one would’ve figured should’ve added up to some tangible accomplishment on the ground by now.

But while cheering the war in and of itself, the Pentagon report faulted Pakistan, insisting the nation is constantly “undermining” the occupation by allowing “sanctuaries for Afghan-focused insurgents.”

Pakistan and the US regularly trade condemnations on the “sanctuaries” front, as while Pakistan has mostly been unable to unseat militants from the tribal areas, the NATO occupation forces have been no more successful with Pakistani Taliban factions in the southeast.

Pakistani President Zardari has continued to play up his cooperation with NATO and Afghanistan, but with both the US and the Karzai government constantly finding fault with them, the cooperation doesn’t seem to be paying dividends in improved relations.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.