Pakistan is being compelled to initiate wide-ranging reforms, including changes in its strategic posture, under unrelenting pressure from Washington to abandon its failed militaristic policies, according to US officials monitoring the fast-changing dynamics in the region. The changes include purging the Pakistani establishment, including its intelligence agencies, of radical elements, clamping down on religious institutions advocating a perverted form of jihad, and diverting resources, particularly US aid procured in lieu of cooperation over the war on terrorism, to the social sector.
Islamabad is also being asked to re-evaluate its failed policies on Afghanistan and Kashmir that has brought infamy on the country. CIA Director George Tenet is the latest among a stream of US officials who have visited Pakistan to “persuade" Islamabad to initiate changes in policy, including those concerning Kashmir.