Pakistan Rebuffs Billions

It's not everyday someone offers you $7.5 billion, but Pakistan doesn't seem quite pleased with the terms of a proposed U.S. aid package:

Although President Obama has praised the $7.5 billion, five-year aid program -- approved by Congress last week -- Pakistani officials have objected to provisions that require U.S. monitoring of everything from how they spend the money to the way the military promotes senior officers.

Their criticism threatens to complicate the administration's efforts in the region, where Pakistan's assistance is seen as crucial to the war in Afghanistan.

One of the outrages, apparently, is a U.S. demand that Pakistan sever its ties with the Taliban - a sensible suggestion given that that support can make or break U.S. efforts in Afghanistan. Which underscores an important point: you can add all the U.S. troops you want to conduct the most culturally sensitive counter-insurgency in the world and if Pakistan wants to keep using the Taliban as a strategic hedge, how far are you really going to get?