Not yet. And this knife cuts both ways: they both hate and distrust each other, both covet Kashmir, regularly trade fire over it. Many of the now virulent extremist groups they're fighting now were nurtured by Pakistani intelligence in the first place. The Mumbai attacks last year? Lashkur E Toiba. Pakistani intelligence groomed as guerillas against India. War almost broke out, and could still.

2″The population of Pakistan considerably exceeds that of Afghanistan. It strains my imagination that the larger would be conquered by the smaller unless backed by a larger player. “

Huh? The notion that Afghanistan might try to conquer Pakistan had never crossed my mind, being an astronomically distant possibility.

The extremists we are fighting in Afghanistan are largely the same people Pakistan is fighting in Waziristan, and they cross the border with impunity in order to escape retaliation by one or the other as needed. You cannot squeeze a liquid in your fist, you must contain it to control it. NATO on one side, Pakistan on the other. Remove either and they can continue indefinitely.

3. “the US must attend seriously to its domestic economic issues if it is to sustain a potent military and its support of friends in the long run, or it will start to look like the Soviet Union of the 80s.”

Total agreement. But it must do both if we are not to follow their example, as it was failure to do either that ultimately killed the USSR.

4. “With a small group on a shoestring budget, they've panicked the US strategic community into what history will show to be an over-reaction and lack of finesse.”

Total agreement. Such is the nature of Asymmetrical Warfare.

Not yet. And this knife cuts both ways: they both hate and distrust each other, both covet Kashmir, regularly trade fire over it. Many of the now virulent extremist groups they're fighting now were nurtured by Pakistani intelligence in the first place. The Mumbai attacks last year? Lashkur E Toiba. Pakistani intelligence groomed as guerillas against India. War almost broke out, and could still.

2″The population of Pakistan considerably exceeds that of Afghanistan. It strains my imagination that the larger would be conquered by the smaller unless backed by a larger player. “

Huh? The notion that Afghanistan might try to conquer Pakistan had never crossed my mind, being an astronomically distant possibility.

The extremists we are fighting in Afghanistan are largely the same people Pakistan is fighting in Waziristan, and they cross the border with impunity in order to escape retaliation by one or the other as needed. You cannot squeeze a liquid in your fist, you must contain it to control it. NATO on one side, Pakistan on the other. Remove either and they can continue indefinitely.

3. “the US must attend seriously to its domestic economic issues if it is to sustain a potent military and its support of friends in the long run, or it will start to look like the Soviet Union of the 80s.”

Total agreement. But it must do both if we are not to follow their example, as it was failure to do either that ultimately killed the USSR.

4. “With a small group on a shoestring budget, they've panicked the US strategic community into what history will show to be an over-reaction and lack of finesse.”

Total agreement. Such is the nature of Asymmetrical Warfare.

Oh to be able to pull out of Afghanistan without having it become a base for extremists to topple Pakistan! A world where Pakistan was stable, and not in posession of four dozen nuclear weapons and a functioning industry to produce more! A world where Afghanistan wouldn't just go right back to the Taliban and their buddies! A world where the new owners wouldn't nuke their rival India! Or Israel!

YAY!

If we lived in that world I could finally have that rainbow-shitting unicorn I've always wanted! And a jetpack!
And a pony!
And a pony!
YAY!!