It's unfair to blame Bush for Pakistan being a failed state with nuclear weapons. After 9/11, Cheney and Rumsfeld threatened the leader of Pakistan sufficiently to achieve some assistance and at least an official cut-off in support for the taliban. This was no small accomplishment as taliban were created by pakistan's intelligent service.
Obviously, under the table assistance, sanctuaries, etc have continued, as has support for islamist terrorist groups like the one that attacked Mumbia. To his credit, Obama has actually stepped up drone attacks inside pakistan. No doubt those attacks are partly targeted by special forces operators who have infiltrated pakistan.
As an aside, obama and the rest of the left were outraged over a handful of terrorists being detained at gitmo, yet they seem to have no problems with extra-judicial assasinations of taliban and alqaeda leaders via drone attacks. They were outraged over supposed civilian casualties in gaza and lebanon, yet don't have a problem with blowing up entire compounds in pakistan. Interesting.
The aid to pakistan is indefensible on many grounds. Pakistan supports terrorism, developed nukes on the sly and then sold the technology, and creates enormous problems with our relationship with India. The aid is generally justified as the price of some cooperation in moving supplies into afghanistan, some cutbacks on aid to taliban and some minimal attempts by pakistan to assert control over the lawless frontier regions. The alternative that policymakers fear is a complete breakdown of its government, with its nuclear stockpile falling into terrorists' hands.
When we are assessing blame here, I think Bush does deserve a lot for getting us mired into a longdrawn out war in afghanistan. We could have withdrawn after deposing the taliban government and let the warlords sort things out. Messy but not our concern. Instead we got ourselves into this nation-building fiasco,which Bush graciously left for Obama to resolve. Obama has, if possible, made things worse by first dithering, then approving but only in part a ridiculous counterinsurgency plan cooked up by ousted Gen. McChrystal.
