Hillary Clinton Visits India While Pakistan’s President Cozies Up To Iran

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in India today to discuss security issues with the massive South Asian nation that is fast becoming America’s most important strategic and economic ally. This, of course, complicates America’s relationship with Pakistan. The Pakistani military leadership there sees India as its mortal enemy, and the fallout from the killing of Osama Bin Laden on Pakistani soil has only heightened the sense that the United States would not take into account Pakistani public opinion in the fight against Islamic terrorism.

In response, Pakistan has been drifting toward China as a new ally, a policy that that has picked up pace in recent weeks after the U.S. held up nearly $1 billion in aid due to a lack of military cooperation. However, American officials have brushed it off, seeming almost happy that their problem child had found a new patron to bother. But while increasing Sino-Pakistani ties may not bother American policymakers, Pakistani President Ali Zardari’s most recent foreign policy intiative should cause more concern — he visited Tehran this past weekend for the second time in a month.