On 7 October 2001, the opening phase of "Operation Enduring Freedom" U.S. military campaign began, which quickly drove the Taliban and its al-Qaida affiliates from Kabul on 12 November.
Since then, 1,760 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan along with 942 International Security Assistance Force soldiers, a total of 2,702 foreign military dead, with no end in sight.
In a March 2008 article Richard Holbrooke, then a foreign policy adviser in Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, coined the term “Af-Pak” in an article to describe the broader regional context of military operations in Afghanistan, acknowledging that in order to win in Afghanistan, Pakistan to the east must be pacified as well. Full article at: Pakistan’s Energy Crisis and U.S. Interests
Nice, that was a good read.
Interesting to see a more nuanced approach from the US, however there are a few things to consider. Firstly India is probably going to be the single most important strategic relationship the US will (or should) develop over the next 50 yrs, this is not a clever way to go about doing it. If policy changes dicate that its a good idea to fund an infrastructure prioject in Pakistan choose another part of the country. Secondly to the extent that Pakistan as a country including it security services have loyalty to any country other than itself, that country is China. The US will never be able to supercede this relationship, Pakistan dances to China's tune only. No amount of aid will change this.
Very interesting article on bloomberg about how China is pushing ahead with resource acquisition in Afghanistan as well, you would think that the US would make try and make sure it would have access to these resources ahead of the Chinese. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-12/china-expands-lead-in-afghan-c…
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