My name is Colin Cookman and I'm a researcher at the Center for American Progress. Last month, a group of my colleagues, including Senior Fellows Lawrence Korb, Brian Katulis, and I, visited the Pakistani cities of Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi to assess the country's complex and dynamic political and security situation.

We met with Pakistani political officials, U.S. diplomats, members of the security services, press, and other civil society observers.

Our visit coincided with the public breakdown of a peace agreement between the Pakistan government and Taliban militant forces in the Northwest Frontier Province district of Swat--a no-go area for western visitors like ourselves. The situation there is serious, and Pakistani army forces have since begun operations in the area. Security throughout the capital of Islamabad was high.

The violent insurgency in the northwest is linked to militants operating in neighboring Afghanistan. Afghanistan's instability has spilled over into Pakistan's cities, and high profile attacks by the Taliban are hitting the police and other government institutions. A recent State Department assessment found that terrorist attacks inside Pakistan have quadrupled since 2006.

Yet nearly every individual we met said they think the most critical issue facing Pakistan is basic governance and the provision of services such as justice, economic opportunity, and human security--rather than the counterterrorism frame that has dominated the American approach to the country over the past eight years.

It will be a major challenge for Pakistan's new civilian government and the United States' own aid and diplomatic institutions to effectively implement the proposed increase in nonmilitary aid for the country and to refocus efforts on providing basic services to the Pakistani people.

The crises facing Pakistan may seem like an increasingly hopeless case, but the country possesses a history of functioning institutions and has a developing civil society that the United States could build partnerships with. The United States can also take concrete steps such as focusing its assistance on police and judicial reforms, pressing the Pakistani government to present plans and provide transparent accounting for aid money, and expanding civilian technical and professional training opportunities and academic exchanges. Progress in Pakistan will ultimately require sustained engagement from the United States and changes in the way we conduct foreign policy--issues that we will continue to focus on in our ongoing work at the Center for American Progress.