How Washington Will Measure Pakistan's Success

By OMAR WARAICH / ISLAMABAD Monday, Sep. 21, 2009

When President Obama laid out his new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy in March, he vowed to "not blindly stay the course." Instead, a series of metrics would be set out to measure progress. Last week, the Obama Administration issued a draft of those metrics to Congress. Where Pakistan is concerned, the goals center on disrupting international terrorist networks, developing the military's counterinsurgency capabilities, helping to enhance civilian control and building a global consensus on stabilizing the country. The first of what will become regular assessments will be drafted at the end of March 2010. But in the six months between now and then, Washington has a lot of work to do to get Pakistan to measure up to the metrics. Here is how things stand: