Pakistan is under attack by the Taliban who are determined to destroy Pakistan's secular values, and by the Americans, who are also determined to eliminate the Taliban. Poor Pakistanis are being squeezed to the limit and there is no way out for the ordinary Pakistanis and they are trapped in this unavoidable battle. Pakistan did […]
Mona Eltahawy has interviewed a series of Muslim Republicans and summarized their struggles this election cycle. In sum, it's not a good scene; one doctor described it thus: "I am truly having an identity crisis as a Muslim Republican. I really don't want to abandon the party, but I really feel the party has abandoned […]
Hillary's message has reached Saudi Arabia – the Human Rights Commission there has just added a women's and children's division.
Haifaa al Mansour gave an interview to Al Jazeera English's program One on One this week. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/IPu8TF7ANMQ” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] There is a brief article at Al Jazeera on the interview; you can watch the second part of the interview on YouTube as well. Al Mansour is a female Saudi filmmaker, which is […]
Asif Ali Zardari will be sworn in tomorrow as Pakistan's president, following his election victory at the weekend, amid warnings from opposition voices that the country is in danger of a “civilian dictatorship” after the military rule of General Pervez Musharraf. Zardari inherits a country facing a deep economic and security crisis, where the hold […]
Foget labels. In reality, two giant parties struggle perennially for power in Pakistan. One is the politicians’ party, whose candidate, Asif Ali Zardari, has just been elected president. The other is the army party, which prefers bazookas to ballot boxes. Democracy in this pivotal country is a frail blossom. And Zardari is as frail as […]
ISLAMABAD, Sept. 8 — At least 20 people were killed and 25 others injured Monday after several missiles fired by unmanned U.S. Predator drones hit a religious school and the house of a powerful Taliban commander in northwest Pakistan, near the border of Afghanistan, according to witnesses and a Pakistani security official. The missile strike […]
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Explosions reportedly caused by missiles fired from U.S. drone aircraft hit a house and seminary linked to a key Taliban commander in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing at least nine people, officials and witnesses said. The blasts occurred in a village in North Waziristan, a militant stronghold in Pakistan's wild […]
Sec Treas Henry Paulson recently published an essay in CFR's Foreign Affairs magazine, which discusses leveraging trade as a platform to strengthen the SinoAmerican relationship. He writes hopeful that the next administration will engage China in a way that is responsive to its “twin priorities” of “territorial integrity and economic growth.” Paulson's theory revolves around the […]
Today I will provide several links to three or so stories which have been developing for days and sometimes weeks now in the region. Some aspects have to do with items and themes we have covered, 'soft power’ in Afghanistan, another is an issue or event that I have barely mentioned. Though I want discuss […]
The spotlight remains on Tripoli this weekend, especially in light of Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri's three-day visit, during which he has met representatives from the city. Hariri's efforts to create a climate that will foster reconciliation come after he had earlier warned that Syria “is trying to return to Lebanon through Tripoli.” Talks […]
Anyone who has spent time in the Middle East has probably taken note of the abundance of conspiracy theories in circulation. Most Americans I know dismiss these theories as, well, crazy. Which makes it even more unfortunate when one of them turns out to be true. Iraqi officials respond to the news that the White […]
The Economist's Briefing this week is on Islamic finance. I’ll confess to being less than expert on economics and just link. Click here for the briefing on current successes and struggles in the field; click here for the summary of Islamic finance's history. Those interested in reading further on Islamic finance can check out Forbes.com's […]
The NYT has a piece on the disillusionment of Palestinians with the 2-state solution dream. It has, after all, been 15 years since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, and it can't be comforting to know that Olmert, Abbas, and Bush are hard at work – their combined approval rating probably hovers somewhere around […]
Late in the afternoon of June 10, during a firefight with Taliban militants along the Afghan-Pakistani border, American soldiers called in airstrikes to beat back the attack. The firefight was taking place right on the border itself, known in military jargon as the "zero line." Afghanistan was on one side, and the remote Pakistani region […]