Our Most Worthless Ally?

It's a tough question, with contenders like Turkey in the mix. But one country continues to stand out among the rest, and that is Pakistan. Despite billions in American. aid -- the last package was $7.5 billion -- the U.S. has very little to show from Pakistan as an ally. Even with its large military, Pakistan remains unable or unwilling to control its own territory, continuing to host a terrorist enclave on the border with Afghanistan. Now, a new report claims that the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, is funding the Taliban.

interviews with Taliban commanders in some of the most violent regions in Afghanistan "suggest that Pakistan continues to give extensive support to the insurgency in terms of funding, munitions and supplies."

"These accounts were corroborated by former Taliban ministers, a Western analyst and a senior U.N. official based in Kabul, who said the Taliban largely depend on funding from the ISI and groups in Gulf countries,"

We are fighting the Taliban, and providing massive support to Pakistan. In return they help us with one hand, allowing overflights for the drone assassination campaign, but with the other hand they fund our enemies. According to the article, Pakistan has links with the Taliban that reach all the way to the top of the government.

Pakistani President Zardari, along with a senior ISI official, allegedly visited some 50 senior Taliban prisoners at a secret location in Pakistan where he told them they had been arrested only because he was under pressure from the United States.

I doubt anyone in India is even slightly surprised by this report. For years now Pakistan has been  playing the same sort of double game, condemning terrorist attacks on India, but at the same time harboring and supporting the terrorist groups whose attacks it disavows. The last time a U.S. aid package for Pakistan was under consideration, the Pakistanis screamed and howled at even the minor conditions that were attached. There should be no more aid for Pakistan without far more rigorous conditions.