Pakistani airstrikes target Taliban

Pakistani fighter jets pounded Taliban targets in the country's northwestern region as part of a wider military crackdown on militants inside its borders. Pakistan's government insists its military crackdown has growing popular support.  However, Michael Krepon of the Ploughshares-funded Stimson Center told CNN, "The government has been hesitant and divided in going after these guys, but public opinion -- judging by what I read in the Pakistani newspapers -- may be shifting." 

Pakistan continues to believe its greatest security concern is a potential Indian threat. Commenting for Stars and Stripes, Karin von Hippel of the Center for Strategic and International Studies argued that the U.S. must “start having a bigger conversation with the Pakistani people about the dangers posed by the Taliban. They don’t think it’s their fight. They think it’s America’s." Working with humanitarian organizations, providing better counterinsurgency training for Pakistani troops, and subtly improving America’s image there could have a much more dramatic and positive effect, von Hippel said.