Solution on the Pakistan Border ?

StrategyPage:

AFGHANISTAN: Welcome To The Future

September 24, 2008: The government is negotiating with the Pakistani government to form joint Afghan/NATO/Pakistani teams to guard the border, and able to freely operate on both sides of the border.

What the Afghans want to do is eliminate the Pakistani border guards that side with the Taliban. Over the last few years, there have been dozens of incidents where the Pakistani border guards actively assisted the Taliban. This consisted of things like firing machine-guns at Afghan troops and border guards, to distract the Afghans while Taliban gunmen crossed into Afghanistan. A few times, the Pakistani troops even crossed into Afghanistan to help the Taliban.

In one case, Pakistani helicopters were seen landing in a Taliban base within Afghanistan, and delivered ammo and other supplies.

Now there's govt leadership in the war on terror !

What complicates this is the way Pakistani border guards are recruited (mainly from border tribes), the many opportunities to augment their income (aiding smugglers, bandits and drug gangs) and the dangers they have to deal with (threats against their families if they do not cooperate.)

The frontier has always been more of a business than a border. By getting more Pakistani soldiers on the border, working closely with NATO and Afghan troops, the Pakistani border guards can be induced to behave. Maybe.

If we can bail out corrupt unethical morons in Manhattan, I think we can help buy and enforce a solution here.