Identity crisis:

History, geography, and domestic politics have all helped mould Pakistan into a large question mark for its neighbours, its allies, and itself. Intermittent military rule has had its role in this identity crisis, as have Pakistan’s major political parties, with their feudal structures and their corruption. At least as destabilising, though, have been the entanglements of Pakistan’s powerful military intelligence agency, known as ISI, with the Taliban and other Islamist extremists.

Pakistan must be encouraged to sever the ISI from radical groups that the agency cultivated in the past. As The New York Times reported, some of the extremists have begun targeting the Pakistani military that once nurtured them. But Pakistan’s security services will also have to act, without ambivalence, to penetrate, divide, and destroy the jihadist monster it once helped midwife.

The US can help by altering the security outlook of Pakistan’s leadership. Above all, this means taking an active diplomatic role in resolving Pakistan’s conflict with India. This will require settling the Kashmir dispute, preferably by a referendum that offers three options to residents of Indian-controlled Kashmir: stay in India, be part of Pakistan, or become independent. Only when India and Pakistan are reconciled can Pakistan resolve its identity crisis. — The Boston Globe