Foreign Policy Blogs

Pakistan

Flood & Aid to Pakistan

It is true Pakistan has been dealing with awful scenarios one after another since 1947, but at some point, the masses must take charge and work toward changing their destiny. Crisis or no crisis, people in Pakistan by now should have perfected, and if not perfected, at least gotten a good grip on how to […]

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Aisam Qureshi's Country

Aisam Qureshi's Country

Zainab Jeewanjee comments on Asiam-ul-haq Qureshi, Pakistani tennis stars calls for Peace at the 2010 U.S. Open. She weaves in Fareed Zakaria’s argument that American’s are actually safer 10 years after 9/11 while Muslim countries grow weary of terrorists in their country and suffer from militant Islam to a larger extent than Americans domestically.

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Problems in Private and Public Aid Donation in Pakistan: Story from PBS Newshour

I’d written earlier about the stultifyingly small (perhaps still-born?) aid packages that have been flowing into Pakistan’s flooded regions. As a result of the widely acknowledged insufficient private donations, the U.N. has asked that its member states double their pledged humanitarian aid packages to Pakistan. To get your head around the latest news on private […]

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PBS and Saima Mohsin's Heart-Wrenching Story on Young Victims of the Flood

Per usual, the PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer has provided, far and away, the best reportage on the flood in Pakistan.  Working with Saima Mohsin of the English-language channel Dawn News, the Newshour has aired some of the most arresting stories on Pakistan’s crisis.  The piece you will find below is no different. Mohsin lays […]

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Did You See Secretary of State Clinton's Message for Increasing Donations to Pakistan's Flood Victims?

I suggest, my readers, that you pass on this note to all your friends and loved ones: Please donate the small, though value of $50 to the flood relief effort in Pakistan.  Consider that private pledged donations to Pakistan’s flood victims are 1/40th the dollar value pledged for the victims of the Haiti earthquake and […]

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Will Anger Solve Anything?

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured. Mark Twain It really is a grueling task to write about Pakistan because there is never anything encouraging to discuss. It is always an angry mob shouting against ‘foreign hands, […]

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U.S. Government Brings Charges Against Tehrik-e-Taliban

The U.S. government has made several related moves that now allows it go after the Pakistani Taliban with meat and muscle. The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Hakimullah Mesud, the alleged leader of the Tehrik e-Taliban with conspiracy to murder  7 C.I.A officers.  Using a Jordanian physician as a double-agent the Tehrik-e-Taliban were able […]

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Paksitan has done it again!

“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” Saint Augustine According to a report in Dawn, once again, Pakistanis have embarrassed themselves, and ironically enough, their struggling country the other day at Washington Dulles Airport by acting awfully. Bravo. It is unfortunate to note that there has […]

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Forget the mosque at Ground Zero

Islam, like other religions, instructs its followers to first help protect and comfort those who are in trouble.  Therefore, it only makes sense that folks, especially those who are supporting the construction of a new mosque at Ground Zero abandon the mosque project and instead help the victims of horrendous floods in Pakistan. No, I […]

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Pakistani Team Goes Down on Cricket Match Fixing Allegation

Oh c’mon now.  Seriously: Pakistan?  Pakistan’s already lost face to the world on politics, economics, development, education, human rights, and now…cricket?  Pakistanis seem to have been taken down on the grounds of one of their most important cultural exports. Four players of the Pakistan team have been alleged to have accepted bribes to fix matches. […]

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The Immediate and Broader Consequences of the Flood in Pakistan

Almost every news outlet is engaged with Pakistan’s flood and the dire needs of her people.  The different ways in which terrible fortunes await those who have just narrowly missed losing their lives is mind-boggling.  Disease is germinating in viral dark, wet corners. Given this attention, it is heart-breaking that the private and public donations […]

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IMF, Like World Bank, Redirects Funding to Flood Aid

The IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Director, Mr. Masood Ahmed, offered this public statement yesterday: “The floods which have hit Pakistan in recent weeks and brought suffering to millions of people will also pose a massive economic challenge to the people and government of Pakistan. The scale of the tragedy means that the country’s […]

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Will they choose wisely?

For my mental health, I never watch Pakistani television, be it state run or the so-called ‘private’ channels.  And if I am forced for whatever reason to put up with it for an hour or so, it is, and I am not exaggerating here, the most painful experience; an experience I find difficult to explain […]

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Islamist Relief Effort Will Cause Strategic Dilemma For Islamabad, U.S and Allies

If the status quo continues, as is likely, and the Pakistani government remains mired in its own incompetence and impotence, the militants in Pakistan will have become more popular and will have built up their ranks in a way, so far, unforeseen. Today’s New York Times lays out the strategic issue in very stark terms: […]

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On Government and Private Pledged Aid to Pakistan

Following on yesterday’s piece on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer, please find the second piece associated with the flood in Pakistan. This piece that air two days ago deals exclusively with the aid effort to get clean water, food and shelter to the devastated victims of this catastrophe. Now it is becoming increasingly clear that […]

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