The new government in Pakistan could bring about important changes in the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban. The Cabinet of new Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, sworn in Monday, will not give the United States the free hand that it has enjoyed in Pakistan since the months after 9/11.
The U.S. must now demonstrate much more sensitivity to public opinion in that embattled country and shift its tactics accordingly. A new relationship with Islamabad will emerge as well as a new approach to the fight against militant Islam. Both could pay dividends — if executed in good faith by both sides.
Pakistan has been one of the front lines in the struggle against al-Qaida. It is estimated that several hundred of the group's operatives, as well as members of the Taliban, which was driven from power in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, have sought refuge in Pakistan's western provinces. Pakistan's president, Mr. Pervez Musharraf, has for the most part backed U.S. efforts to take the fight to those remnants, authorizing U.S. air strikes against them.