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Pakistan shows progress but gains tenuous: experts

* White House assessing Zardari govt’s achievements and changes needed

WASHINGTON: While much of the focus in Washington is a review of strategy in Afghanistan, the Obama administration is also assessing what Pakistan’s fragile government has achieved so far and what must change.

Much of future US strategy for the war in Afghanistan hinges on Pakistan, where experts said on Monday there are limited signs of progress in fighting extremism but these gains easily could be reversed.

“We are seeing evidence of some significant progress compared to a year or two years ago,” said Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution think tank.

“But it is very dangerous in this environment to claim victory or to say we have turned some significant corner (in Pakistan). Much of the progress we have seen is tenuous at best,” added Riedel.

The government is planning a long-awaited ground offensive against Taliban in their South Waziristan stronghold.

But Riedel said at the end of the day, Pakistan’s government had acted because of its own interests and not because of threats to US or NATO forces in the region.

Brookings announced a new index on Monday to track security, economic and political trends in Pakistan, statistics that showed a mixed bag in terms of results.

“I am short-term optimistic but long-term pessimistic about Pakistan,” said Brookings’ Stephen Cohen, who pointed to a “decayed” education system and “dysfunctional” economy as well as growing sectarian violence with extremist roots. reuters

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