If You Ever Doubted

The big news to hit today’s foreign policy press was the release of several thousand DoD documents to The New York Times, The Guardian, and Der Speigel by Wikileaks. As the title of the Times piece suggests, the top story to emerge from the leaks is the numerous field reports detailing how the Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence has been protecting, funding, arming, and otherwise aiding the same insurgents that are fighting and killing American and Afghan troops today.

I wish I could say that this is truly news. Sadly, it is not. Steve Hynd has complied a list of news reports that shed light on Pakistani collusion with the Taliban that stretches back to 2002. It is worth a moment’s reflection: the dozens of articles and exposes compiled by Mr. Hynd are only what is available in the public sphere. As this leak has shown, the Pentagon and the White House have had access to a great deal more evidence than that which has trickled out to the public at large. For years they have known that the ISI has actively worked against the interests of the Afghan people, the U.S. government, and the stability of the region as a whole. And the American response to these provocations? We invite them to Washington with open arms. Such is the state of our halls of power. 

With the risk of sardonicism, I must ask: why do we trust these men and women with anything, much less America’s national security? I once had an inkling of faith in our foreign policy elites. I do no more.