Obama gets first foreign policy test on Pakistan

U.S. warned to drop unilateralism, but will he?

From President Asif Ali Zardari through Defense Minister Ahmad Mukhtar on down, Pakistan’s government is delivering an unambiguous message to Gen. David Petraeus, the new head of Central Command:

Stop the air strikes.

And, if Afghanistan, often known as the Soviet Union’s Vietnam, couldn’t lead us to our own Vietnam 2.0 in the area, listen to Zardari’s language:

“Continuing drone attacks on our territory, which result in loss of precious lives and property, are counterproductive and difficult to explain by a democratically elected government. It is creating a credibility gap.”

Credibility gap, eh? Did we just roll the clock back 40 years?

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s military is giving Petraeus “a glimpse of the Tora Bora from the other side,” in an attempt to show him just what it faces.

And, while the warning is putatively for Petraeus, given that Barack Obama has announced his support for unilateral incursions of all kinds, not just air strikes, into Pakistan, we know who is the ultimate target of this message.

Per the WaPost, here’s further warning that Obama’s foreign policy honeymoon could be short in this area if he gets too hawkish:

The Pakistani Defense Ministry said in a statement released shortly after the meeting that frequent attacks inside Pakistan by U.S. Predator drones “could generate anti-American sentiments” and “create outrage and uproar” among Pakistanis.

Meanwhile, Pakistan is trying a “North West Frontier Awakening,” its twist on the “Anbar Awakening” Petraeus oversaw in Iraq.

A short-term success, the jury is still out on the Anbar Awakening, with it likely to lead to some sort of Iraqi civil war in the long term.

From Pakistan, Petraeus has said he will, essentially, take the complaints under advisement.