Scary news from Pakistan: The Taliban have seized a district close to Islamabad, and the government appeared to make no move to fight back. The district borders the Swat Valley, a region the Taliban wrested from Pakistan’s army in February. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari’s government recently agreed to the introduction of Sharia law in Swat, which the Obama administration thinks is too big a concession to the Taliban. “I think that the Pakistani government is basically abdicating to the Taliban and to the extremists,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday. The Taliban have tried to take over the Buner district before, but citizen militias forced them away. Now the Taliban have more recruits in Swat and were easily able to invade—and they’re one step closer to Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.
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