Pakistan to Obama: Change US Policy on Missile Strikes, Join Us in Ground Operations?

Update: It is now being reported that Holbrooke and Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will head a joint committee "improving intelligence sharing and strengthen security".

As we noted yesterday, US envoy Richard Holbrooke is remaining tight-lipped on any impressions from his tour of Pakistan, which continues to Afghanistan today. Pakistani officials, however, are not so reticent: "Officials familiar with the conversations say Mr. Holbrooke was faced with universal opposition to the Predator strikes" that the US has been carrying out in northwest Pakistan.

So what to do? The Pakistan Government's line is that it wants a joint US-Pakistan review of the policy. At the same time, it is also complaining that the US is not doing enough to support the Pakistan Army's counterinsurgency operations.

Now, it may well be that the Obama Administration can simply buy the Zardari Government's acceptance of unilateral US airstrikes, as Islamabad is asking for billions of dollars in aid to be released. The money could prop up a shaky national government, which could in turn decide to treat the northwest Pakistan situation as an irritation but not a critical challenge. So Washington could have its occasional missile operations, and the Pakistani Army would carry out periodic but limited confrontations with local insurgents.

Yet, with the killings and unrest in the northwest becoming more frequent and more intense and with indications that high-profile attacks in Afghanistan such as yesterday's Kabul bombings are being carried out by Pakistan-based militants, an obvious dilemma --- and possible next step --- are emerging.

The logic of "more support" for Pakistani Army operations means US ground support and even involvement. Yet that involvement would be a huge political risk for the Zardari Government, which could even fall over the reaction to high-profile foreign intervention.

On the other hand, if that US participation in ground operations was portrayed as a Pakistani-led initiative, could the political risk be run?

Watch this space.