Now that Obama has won, he'd find himself in the midst of some challenging problems. Of course, the economy is the one problem that should occupy most of his thoughts right now and justifiably so. However, there are a lot of issues on the foreign policy front that are just as important. One among them is how does he approach Pakistan. During the campaign, he'd said all the right words but can he now act upon them? It would be fascinating to find out. Of course, the last thing anyone would want to think about right now is Pakistan. No surprise that - with all of the problems that need fixing with the economy. But, it would be prudent to learn lessons from history and make a note of them, so that those mistakes that were made are not repeated again.

Well, history tells us that the Taliban were basically nonexistent about a decade and a half ago. They are thought to have been the creation of the Pakistani Military. The reason they created (or at least facilitated) the Taliban was to achieve strategic depth in Afghanistan. In other words, the Pakistani Military wanted to use Afghanistan as their backyard and to give them strategic space vis-a-vis India (their mortal enemy). So, the Pakistanis need to shoulder a lot of the blame for the creation/growth of the Taliban and enabling the Taliban to become a force to reckon with.

It was not a miracle that the Taliban, who were basically a rag-tag bunch of brainwashed mullahs, acquired tanks (of all things) and other military hardware. Obviously, the Pakistani Military provided them that hardware and trained and supported them. In fact, their involvement with the Taliban was exposed when Pakistani military officers were caught following the war with the Taliban post 9/11. However, it seems a deal was reached between the Bush Admn and the Pakistani dictator Musharraf that allowed the Pakistanis to save face and have them returned back to Pakistan, instead of them ending up in Guantanamo Bay.

Cut to the present, the NATO allies and NATO military officers believe that the Pakistanis are not serious in fighting the Taliban. They say that the Pakistanis are in fact in cahoots with the Taliban, allowing them to stay on their soil and conduct terroristic operations in Afghanistan, costing American and NATO soldiers' lives. The Bush Administration's approach to Pakistan has been woefully inadequate. They sought to buy cooperation from Pakistan by offering them billions of dollars and offering them top-of-the-line F16 fighter jets, apparently to fight the Taliban. Of course, it seems no one in the Bush Admin wondered as to why Pakistan would need F16s to fight the Taliban. Obama (and many other experts) believe that the F16s would be used in a future war against India instead. So, that pretty much sums up the Bush Admn's way of dealing with Pakistan.

Obama, on the other hand, has sought to approach Pakistan with a firm hand. Hopefully he can follow through on that. Its likely that any future terror attack in the United States would come out of groups based in Pakistan. Its also not in the interest of the West to have Afghanistan slip back into being a haven for the Osama types. Therefore, a clear message needs to be delivered to those ruling Pakistan that no half-hearted measures would be tolerated and that if need be the US would undertake military operations inside Pakistani territory to flush out the Taliban leadership, who are thought to be living comfortably in Pakistan. Hopefully, the Obama foreign policy team would usher in a tougher approach towards Pakistan. Another 9/11 is not an option that anyone would want to consider.