Foreign Policy Blogs

Tag Archives: Pakistan after 9/11

Where The War on Terror Is

Zainab Jeewanjee shares her experience in Pakistan and a couple BBC pieces documenting the horror of terrorist attacks carried out in Karachi Pakistan, in December 2009.

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Defeat Taliban First

It is nauseating to see people being slaughtered in Pakistan these days. Human life has no respect for barbaric animals responsible for these bombings and suicide attacks. And if the news of bombings and killing was not enough, I was horrified to learn that Lahore’s commissioner (incorrectly) blames India for these attacks while Punjab’s law […]

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Identifying Demons in Pakistan

Zainab Jeewanjee critiques “The Demons that Haunt Pakistan” a SABRINA TAVERNISE article in the New York Times (NYTIMES). Jeewanjee explains that current skepticism of U.S. involvement in the Af-Pak war is not a matter of irrational, conspiracy theories and a personal hatred for all things American, it comes after a prolonged and now daily struggle against extremist Islam, and terrorists who massacre Pakistani’s increasingly since 9/11.

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Afghanistan and Pakistan

Today’s Washington Post is reporting that Obama’s promise didn’t even last 24 hours. According to the paper, Secretary Clinton, Secretary Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen all three danced around the issue of withdrawal from Afghanistan while testifying in front of Armed Services Committee a day after the speech. US Presidents have always struggled with the […]

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Where's the Improved Af-Pak Strategy?

President Obama delivers a speech on the Afghanistan Pakistan (Af-Pak) war promising 30,000 new troops to the region. Zainab Jeewanjee sheds light on the need for a new strategy either in tandem with, or other than just a troop surge, especially in the case of Pakistan.

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Pakistan before & after Obama's big Afghan speech!

So far, in 2009 alone, 9000 Pakistanis have died in Pakistan because of terrorism – that is bombings, suicide attacks and other acts of extreme violence against Pakistan, and Pakistani society by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Yes, 9000 (nine thousand) Pakistanis have died because of terrorism in 2009 alone. This terrorism according to Pakistan is […]

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With Hegemony Comes Great Responsibility

Thomas Friedman of the New York times writes about the Anti-American narrative that terrorist groups use to convince the Islamic world that American policies are aimed at oppressing Muslims. Zainab Jeewanjee critiques Friedman’s article, noting history and tangible consequences of our policies in the Middle East and Pakistan.

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Come Out Swinging

Journalism 101, that is, the very first lesson of journalism is impartiality. In other words, journalists, at least in civilized societies don’t take any position on issues. And editors make sure that personal opinion don’t seep into the work that the journalists are assigned. This is common practice, and even in India, if you read […]

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Who Wears the Taj (crown)? : South Asia post 26/11

Who Wears the Taj (crown)? : South Asia post 26/11

On the eve of the Mumbai atrocities, writer Zainab Jeewanjee discusses the detrimental effects of the massacre. Specifically, how terrorism is causing a rapidly deteriorating state of affairs in Pakistan. But the United States has a chance to get things right in South Asia by engaging both India and Pakistan economically. With economic interests in India and security/geopolitical interests in Pakistan, policy-makers should focus beyond immediate security and further extend cooperation to economic development in Pakistan to ensure they remain a long standing ally in the War on terror and in the face of an ascending China.

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Wazirstan Operation

Finally, the operation in Wazristan is under way, thank God. Pakistan is doing a good job of clearing every place that was a safe heaven for the nuts in and around Pakistan. Now, policy makers in Pakistan should not focus on achieving short term military objective. This war is not going to be easy and […]

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"Terrorism Anywhere, is Terrorism Everywhere"

A BBC article documents Pakistani citizens who support a military offensive to take out terrorists. Citizens of Pakistan increasingly suffer the brunt of terrorism since 9/11 as a spillover of militants from Afghanistan found their way to the northern areas. In addition to our strategic interests, America should take into account the grave human element of suffering that our allies face in cooperating with our efforts in the War on Terror.

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Local Body Elections Can Help Pakistan

There is a new controversy brewing in Pakistan about the local governments. Musharraf government had introduced a system under which local body elections were held and Nazims (a Nazim is like a mayor) were directly elected. However, the problem is that Nazims had very little authority to begin with and now that the current government, […]

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Karachi Trouble

According to a report in Dawn, Pakistan government has lost billions in revenue because of the chaos that was caused by rain in Karachi. This is not good news. There is no question that this rain in Karachi broke all records, at least for the last 30 years, but the response from those who were […]

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Please Be Serious & Take Responsibility

In an excellent piece in Daily Times, the writer deplored the conspiracy theorists in Pakistan claiming that the US is working on re-drawing the map of Asia, and there is no room for Pakistan in this ‘new map’. The writer correctly pointed out that this type of hysterical notions have been claiming that Pakistan is […]

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Nawaz & Zardari Meeting

I am not a fan of Asif Zardari, but I have to give him credit for swallowing his ego, yet again, and going to meet Nawaz Sharif at Sharif’s residence. Given Pakistan’s awful economical and political situation, I do admire Zardari’s commitment to finding common ground with as many political parties as possible to keep […]

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