IGNATIUS AGREES WITH THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS ON THE GRAVITY OF THE TALIBAN'S THREAT TO PAKISTAN - but wimps out on the solution...

WASH POST/IGNATIUS:

President Obama convened a crisis meeting at the White House last Monday to hear a report from Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who had just returned from Pakistan. Mullen described the worrying situation there, with Taliban insurgents moving closer to the capital, Islamabad.

"It had gotten significantly worse than I expected as the Swat deal unraveled," Mullen explained in an interview. He was referring to a truce brokered in February in the Swat Valley, about 100 miles north of Islamabad. The Pakistani military had expected that the cease-fire would subdue Taliban fighters in Swat. Instead, the Muslim militants surged south into the district of Buner, on the doorstep of the capital.

... At a Wednesday news conference, Obama said he was "gravely concerned about the situation in Pakistan." He said his biggest worry was that "the civilian government there right now is very fragile."

... Success depends on Islamabad's recognition that it's their problem, and that they must act decisively.

REPEAT: they must act decisively.

• DECISIVELY FOR OBAMA AND GATES AND MULLEN IS A PROLONGED THREE-STAGE COUNTER -INSURGENCY EFFORT.

• I DON'T THINK THERE'S TIME FOR THAT.

• NOT WITH A SOON-TO-BE NUCLEAR IRAN SUPPORTING THE TALIBAN AS THEY SUPPORT HAMAS AND HIZBALLAH.

• THAT'S WHY I SUGGESTED THAT PAKISTAN PUT THE NUCLEAR OPTION ON THE TABLE - AND USE THEIR NUKES ON THE TALIBAN.

BETTER THE GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN USE THEIR NUKES ON THE JIHADISTS THAN THE NUKES FALL INTO THE HANDS OF THE JIHADISTS.