Pakistan's dual policy on Taliban - latimes

Pakistan sees the possibility of American success diminishing in Afghanistan and has a Plan B for a post-American relationship.

Pakistani authorities have reacted angrily to a study released this month by the London School of Economics, which concludes that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has been systematically funding and maintaining top-level ties with the Taliban, and on a larger scale than generally believed.

Pakistan is determined that there be a friendly, indeed dependent, government in Afghanistan once the Americans and their allies call it quits — President Obama has pledged to start withdrawing U.S. troops in July 2011 — and they are well aware of the India-friendly governments that prevailed for decades in Afghanistan until the collapse in 1992 of the Soviet-backed government in Kabul. Pakistan is determined to not be outflanked again.

The ISI, together with the armed forces, has long amounted to a state-within-a state in Pakistan. Certainly, no policy concerning national security can be designed without it being involved and in charge of implementation. That this applies to the Taliban is beyond doubt. The Taliban's rise and subsequent triumph, in 1996, over the various Islamist forces battling for control of a chaotic, war-ravaged post-Soviet Afghanistan was the result of ISI sponsorship, training and funding.

Washington may not like what Pakistan is doing, but given Islamabad's circumstances it should hardly be surprised by it. Pakistan has not one, but two policies on Afghanistan, one crafted for what it sees as the diminishing possibility of an American success, the other for a post-American Afghanistan. ..... More - Pakistan's dual policy on Taliban

gulfnews : Who's driving the policy in Afghanistan?
Commentary: Obama's mixed Afghanistan messages McClatchy
Bret Stephens: Afghanistan: Eyes Wide Shut - WSJ.com