Taliban -- Following America's Lead Across Pakistan

The US subsidized the monster. The monster is getting just enough food to be portrayed as the cause for righteous intervention. Too bad that “Operation Just Cause” has already been used.

clipped from www.nytimes.com The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said Monday that he was “gravely concerned” about Taliban advances in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as President Obama prepared for meetings here this week with President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan in an atmosphere of crisis. Recent militant gains in Pakistan have so alarmed the White House that the national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, described the situation as “one of the very most serious problems we face.” Pakistan, he said Monday, “has to survive as a democratic nation.” There were new signs of uneasiness on Capitol Hill about United States involvement in the region. The Democratic chairman of the House Appropriations Committee pronounced himself as “very doubtful” that Mr. Obama’s plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan could succeed.