Obama's Pakistan policy

Assuming that the opinion polls consistently revealing Senator Barack Obama's lead in the presidential race are not overturned by the "known unknowns" - the factors that could give a surprise majority vote to a candidate otherwise rated as underdog - an attempt to outline the policy his administration is likely to adopt towards Pakistan would seem to be in order. The country's geographical position as well as ethnic and religious composition have made it a crucial force in Washington's efforts to hit a most elusive and, indeed, menacing target in its foreign policy domain: the elimination of terrorism and extremism for which the region, it believes, serves as the nursery. Hence, we find the election campaigns of both the contestants marked by frequent references to the (less than adequate) role Islamabad is playing in this difficult situation and what the US ought to be doing.
Obama's initial utterances on the war on terror where Pakistan inevitably figured in had an aggressive tone and were a source of anxiety and alarm for its politically conscious people. Intrinsically, though, they did not suggest any significant deviation from the policy President Bush had been pursuing for the past three years, but the impression of insensitivity to Pakistan's sense of its sovereign right to deal with militants on its soil, which his open avowal of taking them out through military strikes had created, was quite disturbing.
No doubt, the present US administration had off and on been targeting suspected hideouts in Pakistan's territory since its missiles struck Damadola in Bajaur in February 2006 for the first time and has lately stepped up the aerial attacks, but an assertive stance claiming America's prerogative to do so has not been so openly taken. His Republican rival John McCain's stand is not different in substance: only he would not make a public declaration of his plans to bomb the targets located in the territory under Pakistan's jurisdiction.
But somehow, even when the other more realistic strands of his policy are taken into consideration, the apprehension of a rather strident US attitude towards Islamabad under the Obama presidency has not completely vanished from the minds of the public. This view is sustained by the common impression that 'Democrats are friends of India, while Republicans are of Pakistan'. Obama's policy when spelled out advocates a holistic approach to defeat the evil of militancy i.e., it underlines the imperative need for developing the tribal region in the economic and social fields. In fact, this aspect would have a significant place on his agenda along with armed action.