It's increasingly becoming a vexed question. Is Pakistan, so much heralded as an ally of the West, especially in the so-called war on terror, really so?
ABC Radio National's program, Correspondent's Report, would suggest not:
"ELIZABETH JACKSON: The Western world likes to claim that Pakistan is an ally in the War on Terror, but is it? If tomorrow night's 4 Corners programme is any indication, then the answer is not for much longer.
The Taliban has been systematically and brutally working its way through Pakistan.
4 Corners reporter Matt Carney has spent many years in the Middle East for many years and through a Pakistani journalist he was able to gain unprecedented access to the north west of Pakistan and the Taliban.
His story will be featured on 4 Corners tomorrow. I spoke to Matt Carney a short time ago and asked him how bad things were in Pakistan.
MATT CARNEY: You look at Pakistan and probably maybe a quarter of the country now is under the Taliban influence.
You have the Taliban who control the tribal areas, which are known as the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas). And in the North West territory, which is very close to the capital and the key cities in the North West.
They control large chunks of those areas and on top of that they've sort of busted out of their mountain strongholds into the big cities and particular places like Karachi, which are huge cities and they have good footholds in there.
So, they're literally infiltrated every part of that country.
ELIZABETH JACKSON: So, you started in Peshawar; what was that like? Can you paint the picture for us?
MATT CARNEY: Peshawar these days is a very dangerous place; kidnap for ransom is a real and present threat. They had at least 140 official kidnaps last year.
So, you don't want to be there for long as a foreigner because you're a high value target. So, you literally adopt all the strategies of war reporting - you decrease your visibility, you only film interiors and you get out as quickly as you can, you don't stay around.
People are generally traumatised because they don't know when the next attack is coming, the next suicide bombers. The Taliban have infiltrated the city and according to some people, and with good reason, the city itself is teetering, you know, and the Taliban are more at the gates of that city, they're inside, and they're destabilising and perched to take control there."
Continue reading here - and watch the program "live" tomorrow night or on line at the ABC's web site.
ABC Radio National's program, Correspondent's Report, would suggest not:
"ELIZABETH JACKSON: The Western world likes to claim that Pakistan is an ally in the War on Terror, but is it? If tomorrow night's 4 Corners programme is any indication, then the answer is not for much longer.
The Taliban has been systematically and brutally working its way through Pakistan.
4 Corners reporter Matt Carney has spent many years in the Middle East for many years and through a Pakistani journalist he was able to gain unprecedented access to the north west of Pakistan and the Taliban.
His story will be featured on 4 Corners tomorrow. I spoke to Matt Carney a short time ago and asked him how bad things were in Pakistan.
MATT CARNEY: You look at Pakistan and probably maybe a quarter of the country now is under the Taliban influence.
You have the Taliban who control the tribal areas, which are known as the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas). And in the North West territory, which is very close to the capital and the key cities in the North West.
They control large chunks of those areas and on top of that they've sort of busted out of their mountain strongholds into the big cities and particular places like Karachi, which are huge cities and they have good footholds in there.
So, they're literally infiltrated every part of that country.
ELIZABETH JACKSON: So, you started in Peshawar; what was that like? Can you paint the picture for us?
MATT CARNEY: Peshawar these days is a very dangerous place; kidnap for ransom is a real and present threat. They had at least 140 official kidnaps last year.
So, you don't want to be there for long as a foreigner because you're a high value target. So, you literally adopt all the strategies of war reporting - you decrease your visibility, you only film interiors and you get out as quickly as you can, you don't stay around.
People are generally traumatised because they don't know when the next attack is coming, the next suicide bombers. The Taliban have infiltrated the city and according to some people, and with good reason, the city itself is teetering, you know, and the Taliban are more at the gates of that city, they're inside, and they're destabilising and perched to take control there."
Continue reading here - and watch the program "live" tomorrow night or on line at the ABC's web site.
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