Second, the president must be ready for Pakistan to resist and test his resolve. This might come in the form of attacks on American assets in Afghanistan or of interference with supply routes across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Pakistan’s security apparatus will try to prove that the United States cannot succeed without cooperating on Islamabad’s terms.
Toward the end of his presidency, Mr. Obama signaled that the United States would seek to isolate Pakistan if it failed to change its policy of providing sanctuary to terrorists. In 2016, he also signaled that the drone strike that killed the Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour would be followed by more attacks on Pakistani territory against similar targets. Yet Mr. Obama never followed through.
Pakistan will seek to replay that cycle under the Trump administration, but the president can take effective countermeasures. The United States should impose sanctions against senior officials in the Pakistani military and intelligence services who play a direct role in supporting terrorists and extremists.
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