Experts fear ousted Afghan Taliban will simply cross the border

[cali]

Pakistanis do not doubt that President Obama's troop buildup will give U.S. and allied forces more wherewithal to uproot Taliban militants from their strongholds in Afghanistan.

What worries them is that the strategy will push Afghan Taliban over the porous border and bolster the ranks of brethren militants in Pakistan's tribal areas, security experts say.

Pakistanis remain skeptical that Obama's new blueprint for winning the war in Afghanistan will pacify their volatile, unstable neighbor to the west.

They put little, if any, trust in Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose government has been crippled by widespread corruption, and they doubt that his army will be able to defend Afghanistan when American troops leave.

Pakistan's most immediate worry, though, is that Obama's plan to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops could force Afghan fighters to seek refuge across the border with their Pakistani counterparts.

<snip>

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-pakistanis-speech2-2009dec02,0,454321.story

file under unintended consequences.

[The_Commonist]

1. What I got from last night's speech...

...was that Obama intends to widen this thing into Pakistan's tribal area.
And just for this reason.

[Robb]

2. That's what I read as well. nt