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 […]
Over the next 20 years, Pakistan’s population will grow by 85 million people. This raises a multitude of questions regarding the future of Pakistan as not just a stable country—it is clearly not that already—but as a country at all. Pakistan is already overpopulated, with 180 million people—two thirds of which are under 30. The […]
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.
Last year this time I was busy planning my first Thanksgiving when terror struck Mumbai once again. Earlier that year there was a chain of explosions across various cities, and I thought this was a continuation of the same. But it was much more than crude bombs planted in rickshaws and cycles. So instead of […]
Bangladesh is becoming enmeshed in the broader regional strategy by which political Islamists in Bangladesh and Pakistan might bring down secular governments and establish a wider Islamic emirate. I want to propose that Bangladesh has been chosen as the alternative ground from which Pakistani militants will launch attacks into India. Before I get to […]
Even as President Obama hosts the Indian Prime Minister at the State Dinner tonight, the joint press meet during the day sent conflicting signals about the future of Indo-US relations. In spite of being asked directly if the US would put pressure on Pakistan to act against terrorist operating from its territory, President Obama talked […]
OK, that’s not really what he said. But he may as well, choosing to blame India for Taliban attacks inside Pakistan. Dawn has the quote: “India should refrain from such nefarious activities,’ said Mr Qureshi, speaking of India’s alleged support of militants. ‘Unless (India) dispenses with its visceral animosity towards Pakistan, attaining viable peace and […]
I’ve been following reports that three Bangladeshi men affiliated with Lashkar E Taiyeba and Harkatul Jihad al Islam have been implicated in a plot to attack the U.S. Embassy and Indian High Commission in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. This story just got a lot more interesting and puzzlingly complicated. Even though the piece is […]
Believe me, I’d be mad like hell if Americans bombed Pakistan and killed innocent civilians. Believe me, America is not targeting Pakistan. The Taliban are attacking Pakistan. Today, Pakistan is facing a very tough challenge of defeating home grown insurgency funded and fueled by the money that is directly coming from the Middle East. And […]
1) Speculation in Pakistan is increasing over whether President Asif Ali Zardari will survive in office much longer. The constant threat of military coups is the elephant in the room, especially after Zardari attempted to place the ISI under civilian control. Moreover, Pakistani politics are riddled with ever-shifting alliances and corrupt political actors lacking any […]
1) To nobody’s surprise, Somalia is the most corrupt country on earth—followed closely by Iraq and Afghanistan. Transparency International wrote in its report, “When essential institutions are weak or non-existent, corruption spirals out of control.” The task, then, for America is institution building—but is it willing to spend the time and effort to create civil […]
If the United States is going to criticize Pakistan for not securing their border with Afghanistan, maybe we should be making sure that the other side of the border is sealed, too.
1) Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s State of the Nation address sounds good—but Julia Ioffe is skeptical in the pages of Foreign Policy. 2) A free trade agreement between the United States and Pakistan would be a welcome boon in bilateral relations. 3) This is an example of an exceedingly dry headline. 4) Netanyahu decries potential […]
To the Pakistani military and Internal Services Intelligence: You are reaping what you sowed. But it is not too late to give up the obsessed, crazed determination to retain ‘strategic depth’ vis-a-vis India that has wrought such terrible destruction upon the peoples of South Asia. As I’ve mentioned several times before, the continuation of the […]
So says Gustavo De Las Casas, in an article for Foreign Policy. Basically, the argument is that if the West were to totally decimate the Al-Qaeda network, the global Jihadist movement would disperse, and the local cells that emerged would be that much harder to accurately track, and stop. It’s an intriguing thesis, and certainly […]