Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Policy

Obama's AfPak Metrics Miss the Mark on Pakistan

| September 21, 2009

"The draft metrics devised by the Obama administration to evaluate progress in the AfPak theater, while providing a useful list of issues to follow, analyze and gauge the developing situation in Afghanistan, leaves much to be desired in its treatment of the Pakistan side of things. The informed and constructive analysis of said metrics by Steve Coll and Katherine Tiedemann in this forum are must reads to understand the context of this discussion. I almost entirely agree with their assessments but believe that a few additional lacunas in the document must be addressed. Of course, not having access to the 'classified annex' (regarding Objective 1: disruption and degradation of terrorist networks and their capability in Afghanistan and Pakistan) limits one's ability to grade the overall effort (if you may)!

It is quite striking that framers of the metrics have avoided the merest mention of Pakistan-India relations as a factor in understanding which way the wind is blowing in Pakistan's security environment...."

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For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: Abbas, Hassan.“Obama's AfPak Metrics Miss the Mark on Pakistan.” Foreign Policy, September 21, 2009.

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