Pakistan's new PM does not get counterinsurgency

Times:

Pakistan's new Prime Minister called on the US and Nato yesterday to review its counter-terrorism policy in the region, which he said had failed to deliver peace.

In an interview with The Times Yousuf Raza Gilani said that his Government would pursue a multi-pronged strategy to combat terrorism since the past strategy, centred on military assaults, had failed to produce the desired results.

Mr Gilani said that use of only military means could not bring peace in the volatile tribal region, which according to Western intelligence agencies has become al-Qaeda's main centre of operations. “We need to review our strategy to deal with the situation in the tribal region.” he said.

His remarks are likely to cause concern in Washington and London. They suspect that any deal between the Pakistani authorities and leaders in the tribal areas will weaken government authority in the area and strengthen Islamic militants.

...

This guy is going with a policy Musharraf already tried and failed with. and he clearly does not comprehend counterinsurgency warfare and the concept of working with the locals to defeat the militants who are plaguing them. It takes a multilevel approach that still retains some kinetic activities, but this guy is apparently only aware of the kinetics and not the political aspects. Cutting deals with guys whose word is no good will only be counter productive.

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