WELCOME, MADAME SECRETARY - AT 8:03 A.M. ET:  Secretary of State Clinton landed in Pakistan this morning.  The welcoming committee was active.  From AP:

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A car bomb tore through a market popular with women in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing 86 people hours after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in the country to show American support for its campaign against Islamist militants.

More than 200 people were wounded in the blast in the main northwestern city of Peshawar, the deadliest in a surge of attacks this month. The government blamed militants seeking to avenge an army offensive launched this month against al-Qaida and Taliban in their stronghold close to the Afghan border.

And...

Three bombs have exploded in Peshawar this month, including another one that killed more than 50 people, part of a barrage of at least 10 major attacks across the country that have killed some 250 people. Most have targeted security forces, but some bombs have gone off in public places, apparently to sow fear and expose the weakness of the government.

The Taliban have warned Pakistan that they would stage more attacks if the army does not end a new ground offensive in the South Waziristan tribal region, where the military has dispatched some 30,000 troops to flush out insurgents. South Waziristan is a major base for the Pakistani Taliban and other foreign militants.

COMMENT:  As we saw last weekend, there is renewed terror activity in Iraq, where Baghdad was subjected to two suicide bombings. 

Pakistan is unstable, it has nuclear weapons, and the forces that threaten its government are aligned with terror groups.  We have a long struggle ahead in south Asia, a struggle that directly affects our own security and the lives of Americans.  The threat will escalate geometrically if the Taliban or Al Qaeda get their hands on the Pakistani nukes, or even a few of them.

It would help of the president showed some sense of urgency.  It's fine to dispatch the secretary of state, but decisions on troop strength in the region must be made, and they are overdue.

October 28,  2009