Stirrings of life on Capitol Hill are seen as Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, introduces a bill to stop distribution of $3 billion in aid that Congress appropriated for Pakistan this year until the State Department certifies that Pakistan was not harboring Osama bin Laden. Here lies a way to call out the pathological inertia that drives the U.S.-Pakistani relationship not forward, but in circles, causing dizzy policymaking. Even after Pakistan appears to have been caught in-flagrante delicto with Public Enemy No. 1, House Speaker John Boehner, for example, was still prattling on about Pakistan being “critical to breaking the back of al Qaeda.”
Like the battered spouse who can’t see what’s wrong with another shiner, Boehner insisted: “This is not a time to back away from Pakistan. We need more engagement, not less.” He also said: “We both benefit from having a strong bilateral relationship.”
