Pakistan's Long Support For Militants Puts The Country In A Bind

Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., Asad Khan, says India is hastily and unfairly blaming his country for a Feb. 14 suicide bombing that killed more than 40 Indian security force members in the disputed Kashmir region.

"India pointed the finger at Pakistan within minutes. The Indian government and media went into overdrive, whipping up war hysteria against Pakistan," Khan said recently in Washington.

The bombing was carried out by a young Muslim man who grew up in Indian-administered Kashmir, and Pakistan says it had nothing to do with it. Pakistan has also arrested dozens of suspected militants in recent days, in an effort to show it's cracking down at home.

However, Pakistan is facing great skepticism abroad. Pakistan has long hosted the radical group that claimed responsibility for the attack, Jaish-e-Mohammed, even though the Pakistani government has officially outlawed the group, which is designated a terrorist group by the United Nations and the United States.

And here's the larger context: Pakistan has backed militants in its neighboring states of India and Afghanistan for decades, and while Pakistan's exact role is often murky, it is now paying an increasingly heavy cost for this policy.