Replacing the Current AfPak Strategy with a New One
written by: Ehsan Ahrari
Jul 08, 2010

With the firing of General Stanley McChrystal, President Barack Obama appears to be writing his own edition of "lessons in disaster," a book of the same title that he so publicly read and supposedly drew lessons from before committing 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. One wonders whether he ...more

Mineral Riches of Afghanistan: Need for Thinking Out of the Box
written by: Ijaz Khan
Jul 06, 2010

In the life of individuals as well as States there are moments when they must take crucial decisions which determine their future. Opportunities knock at every door; only few are awake and thus respond when there door is knocked. Pakistan has missed many opportunities, yet another one is ...more

Mutahida Qabail Party (MQP)
Voice of Tribal People
written by: Habib Malik Orakzai
Jun 29, 2010

Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has always been a mysterious region to understand. The FATA is located along Pakistan's north-western Himalayan zone and south western Suleman Mountains. It consists of seven semi autonomous agencies and administrative units - Khyber, Mohmand,Bajur, Kurram, ...more

All Kayani's Men
written by: Anatol Lieven
Jun 02, 2010

VOLTAIRE REMARKED of Frederick the Great's Prussia that "where .some states have an army, the Prussian Army has a state!" The same can easily be said of Pakistan. The destruction of the army would mean the destruction of the country. Yet this is something that the Pakistani Taliban and their allies ...more

Inside Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province
written by: Hassan Abbas
May 05, 2010

The Political Landscape of the Insurgency

Despite comparatively progressive forces taking control of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP)¹ after success in the February 2008 provincial elections, stability remains elusive and the law and order ...more

Pakistan in Cauldron of Internal Crises
written by: BrigGen (ret) Dr. Muhammad Aslam Khan Niazi
Mar 09, 2010

Though short history of Pakistan since independence in 1947 is riddled with crises, the horrendous storms that lurk now on the horizon of the fragile government create awe and shock among the civil society that so desperately and sincerely yearns for peace, tranquility, rule of law and justice. One ...more

Reforming Pakistan's Civil Service
Feb 23, 2010

Islamabad/Brussels, 16 February 2010: If Pakistan's deteriorating civil service is not urgently repaired, public disillusionment and resentment could be used by the military to justify another spell of authoritarian rule.

...more

Afghanistan & Pakistan: A new and comprehensive NATO Double-Track Decision is needed
written by: Dr. Hubertus Hoffmann
Jan 22, 2010

"We cannot solve the problems we have created with the same thinking that created them." (Albert Einstein)

"A war is not won if the defeated enemy has not been turned into a friend." (Eric ...more

Prospects for Pakistan
written by: Jonathan S. Paris
Jan 21, 2010

Pakistan today faces five main challenges:

1. Threat of fragmentation and the loss of state control over various territories that undermine the integrity, sovereignty and solidarity of the country;

2. Security and terrorism throughout the country;

...more

Pakistan: Countering Militancy in FATA
Oct 27, 2009

Islamabad/Brussels, 21 October 2009: The military operation in South Waziristan is unlikely to succeed in curbing the spread of religious militancy in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), unless the Pakistan government implements political reforms in that part of the country.

...more

Pakistan: The South Waziristan Migration
written by: Scott Stewart
Oct 16, 2009

Pakistan has been a busy place over the past few weeks. The Pakistani armed forces have been conducting raids and airstrikes against the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other foreign Islamist fighters in Bajaur Agency, a district inside Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), while ...more

Al-Qaeda's guerrilla chief lays out strategy
written by: Syed Saleem Shahzad
Oct 16, 2009

ANGORADA, South Waziristan, at the crossroads with Afghanistan - A high-level meeting on October 9 at the presidential palace between Pakistan's civil and military leaders endorsed a military operation against the Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda in the South Waziristan tribal area - termed by analysts ...more

The new killing fields?
Oct 15, 2009

Gretchen Peters spent over a decade as a news reporter covering Pakistan and Afghanistan. Here she argues that the main way to fight the Taliban and al Qaeda there is through cutting off their drugs money.

According to a recent report for the US Senate Foreign Relations ...more

Deciphering the attack on Pakistan’s Army headquarters
written by: Hassan Abbas
Oct 12, 2009

Before Pakistan could start recovering from a suicide bombing at a U.N. office in Islamabad and a massive bomb blast in a Peshawar market last week, the brazen October 10 attack targeting Pakistan's most secure military complex -- Army Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, just a few miles from the capital ...more

Pakistan: Biting the Hand that Feeds You
written by: Scott Stewart
Oct 12, 2009

The Islamabad office of the United Nations' World Food Program (WFP) was struck by a suicide bomber just after noon local time Oct. 5. The bomber, ...more

Pakistan goes for militants' jugular
written by: Syed Saleem Shahzad
Oct 07, 2009

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari can be well pleased with his recent visit to New York, securing US$1.5 billion annually for five years in non-military aid and gaining unprecedented political support from over two dozen heads of states under the Friends of Democratic Pakistan initiative.

Now ...more

Afghan Strategy Divides Lawmakers
written by: Scott Wilson
Oct 07, 2009

Congressional leaders left a rare bipartisan meeting with President Obama on Tuesday divided over what strategy the administration should adopt to fight an increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan and how quickly it must do so to protect U.S. forces already on the ground.

Obama called congressional ...more

U.S. Push to Expand in Pakistan Meets Resistance
written by: Jane Perlez
Oct 06, 2009

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Steps by the United States to vastly expand its aid to Pakistan, as well as the footprint of its embassy and private security contractors here, are aggravating an already volatile anti-American mood as Washington pushes for greater action by the government against the Taliban.

An ...more

Pakistan pushed to its limits
written by: Syed Saleem Shahzad
Sep 30, 2009

NEW YORK - United States President Barack Obama, co-chairing with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown the first summit meeting of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan, on Thursday announced that the US Senate had unanimously passed the Kerry-Lugar bill, authorizing US$1.5 billion in economic assistance ...more

U.S. Fears Pakistan Aid Will Feed Graft
written by: Jane Perlez
Sep 21, 2009

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - As the United States prepares to triple its aid package to Pakistan - to a proposed $1.5 billion over the next year - Obama administration officials are debating how much of the assistance should go directly to a government that has been widely accused of corruption, American ...more

Mumbai 'mastermind' detained by Pakistan
written by: Andrew Buncombe and Omar Waraich
Sep 22, 2009

Just days ahead of a crucial meeting between India and Pakistan that could pave the way for the resumption of stalled peace talks, police in Lahore have placed under house arrest the man accused of masterminding last year's Mumbai attacks.

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, founder of the banned group ...more

Pakistan Army Said to Be Linked to Swat Killings
written by: Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah
Sep 15, 2009

MINGORA, Pakistan - Two months after the Pakistani Army wrested control of the Swat Valley from Taliban militants, a new campaign of fear has taken hold, with scores, perhaps hundreds, of bodies dumped on the streets in what human rights advocates and local residents say is the work of the military.

In ...more

Clear signals
Sep 06, 2009

The attack on Minister Kazmi suggests that religious parties are being warned off supporting further action against militancy.

On Wednesday, Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi left his office in Islamabad and was attacked by gunmen who managed to put a bullet in his leg, injure ...more