Pakistan and jihadist terrorism

 A great column yesterday by Newweek’s Fareed Zakaria on Pakistan’s role as a “terrorist hothouse even as jihadism is losing favor elsewhere in the Muslim world.”

From its founding, he writes, “the Pakistani government has supported and encouraged jihadi groups, creating an atmosphere that has allowed them to flourish.” While there is evidence Pakistani leaders have been cracking down in recent months, that only seems to apply to groups that threaten Pakistan itself, not those that target Afghanistan, the West or anybody else.

Is there any evidence the Obama administration has a better plan for dealing with Pakistan – nominally, a U.S. “ally” in the war on terrorism, sort of like Saudi Arabia – than the George W. Bush administration? If there is, I don’t see it.

Lest we forget: Jewish groups are rightly concerned about Iran’s efforts to build nuclear weapons, but Pakistan already has them – and has the connections to terror groups that would probably love to get their hands on a bomb or two.

I’m just saying.