WAMP: The plague of terrorism

OP-ED:

Mumbai, India, reminds the world that as much as we would like to return to normal and live our lives in peace without fear, we must all remain vigilant and resolute against a very real enemy plotting from the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The multi-front assault on the commercial center of Mumbai was coordinated and effective, but not surprising given the long-standing conflicts between India and Pakistan and the now critical instability of the latter.

In July, I was in Islamabad, Pakistan, meeting with then-President Pervez Musharraf.

He told us that while civil government has its benefits, there is something to be said for military control of a country like his, given the Taliban creep through the mountainous territory of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) where Osama bin Laden and his fellow monsters have claimed protection for many years now. However, only through real reform and a true democratic government will Pakistan begin to be able to address the country’s security and economic concerns.

For the incoming Obama administration, it may very well present the first major foreign-policy and national-security challenge as we move “beyond Iraq” and attempt to help secure the sixth largest country in the world at more than 170 million people with nuclear weapons and a fragile government under the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

Pakistan is indeed the “hottest” of spots in a world with even more hot spots than the average member of Congress realizes. The long-standing “big brother-little brother” relationship between India and Pakistan, combined with the terrorist breeding, off-limits territory from Peshawar to Tora Bora, presents perhaps the greatest global security challenge of 2009 and will really test President-elect Barack Obama as he takes office in January.

How we respond to the threats and the dire situation in Pakistan, where less than half the population can read, and in the off-limits territory where the literacy rates are in single digits, will determine in many ways whether the Middle East will follow Iraq’s path toward self governance or completely reject outside intervention and support melting down into complete and utter chaos. Unemployment is a way of life, government leaders are mostly corrupt and international nuclear arms brokers are held in so-called “house arrest,” but live like royalty because of societal animosity toward the countries threatened by nuclear proliferation.

Having driven the streets of Islamabad, felt the culture and just grazed Pakistan’s extraordinary history, my greatest concern is the very deadly combination of a tribal culture that would protect bin Laden with the political chaos that has infected Pakistan in recent months. There are also these factors to consider: long-standing conflicts with an emerging giant like India, gross illiteracy, poverty and a United States weary from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Security in the world is very hard to come by, and as we saw again in India a few days ago, terrorism is still the political weapon of choice as Mr. Obama assumes the presidency of the United States of America.

Congressman Zach Wamp is a Tennessee Republican.