Roots of terrorism in Pakistan

Peter Brooks:

PAKISTAN'S getting worse on the terrorism front - or maybe the problem has just grown more obvious. Either way, we've got a major terrorism threat on our hands.

Britain's domestic spooks, the MI5, revealed last month that they've foiled five terror attacks since the horrific 7/7 subway-bus bombings in London in 2005. That's great news. But now they're tracking 30 new plots, involving 200 cells and 1,600 people in the United Kingdom - mostly of Pakistani origin, according to the Fimancial Times.

Of course, those are just the plots they know of . . .

Worse, British intelligence said they believe that al Qaeda is regrouping in Pakistan, which could put the United Kingdom - because of its substantial South Asian ties - at significant risk of more terrorism.

And MI5 doesn't believe that Britain is al Qaeda's lone target by any means: It could easily be a stepping stone for Pakistani-originated/assisted terror attacks elsewhere, including in the United States (still al Qaeda's No.1 mark), Canada and continental Europe.

We've already had a close call on that nightmarish front: Last summer's plan by home-grown, U.K.-based al Qaeda acolytes to bring down 10 or so U.S.-bound airliners over the Atlantic using liquid explosives, could've killed as many or more people as the 9/11 plot.

That plan, too, had ties into Pakistan. Plus, it was even nastier than originally thought: They didn't plan to destroy the airliners over the Atlantic, but over U.S. cities - to kill as many as possible.

Then there's Dhiren Barot - the Pakistan-trained British convert to Islam. Considered al Qaeda's top U.K. operative, he was convicted last month for plotting to blow up the New York Stock Exchange and other sites with help from Osama's Pakistan crowd.

Radicalized by local imams, British recruits head to Pakistan for training. Once schooled in terror, al Qaeda's new foot soldiers return home, staying in touch with their Pakistani al Qaeda contacts who either encourage terrorism - or direct it.

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Bad enough that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf eased off the Taliban a few months ago, resulting in a 300 percent increase in attacks across the border in Afghanistan. Now al Qaeda is blossoming in the same lawless tribal regions that the Taliban uses to stage those raids.

The question has become unavoidable: Is Islamabad serious about fighting extremism and terror?

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Pakistan has always been a mixed bag on terrorism and the question is becoming whether the mix can continue to be tolerated. It is clear from the deal with the tribal leaders that Pakistan wants a vacation from fighting the terrorist and is going to be getting the opposite. Its best option is to team up with NATO and the US to directly fight to eliminate the and destroy the terrorist infrastructure in Talibanistan. That will require political courage that Pakistan has not shown to date.