PAKISTAN: Leaping to Conclusions

For the past 18 months, Pakistan has been privately urging the U.S. to re-equip its 250,000-man army (at a cost of some $250 million) in return for air bases within striking range of central Russia. To U.S. military planners, such an exchange had obvious merits:

¶ Pakistan is perhaps America's best friend between Turkey and the Philippines; it has no illusions about Communism and, given help, might be made into the free world's South Asian bastion. ¶ Pakistan's 13-division army, re-equipped, could hold the Khyber Pass. ¶ From Pakistan's air bases, particularly the...

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