Steve Coll’s new book is an excellent account of events of the last two decades in Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Steve has all the credentials to embark on this project. He is one of the best and well-informed journalists and his previous book Ghost Wars is the most authentic work of the history of Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA’s) war…
‘Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please’. Mark Twain Pakistan is in the throes of a judicial crisis since March 2007. On March 09, 2007, General Pervez Musharraf summoned Chief Justice Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhry to the Army House where he was asked some tough questions and then…
“The establishments in the US, Pakistan and India are usually working for theirown good rather than for the good of their public. Shaking them might not be a bad idea”. Former Director General of Inter Service Intelligence (ISI)Lieutenant General (R) Asad Durrani quoted in Spy Chronicles Pakistanis will be voting for general elections on 25…
“In Turkey, we have marriage of Islam and democracy. The child of this marriage is secularism. This child gets sick from time to time. The Turkish armed forces are the doctor which saves the child. Depending on how sick the child is, we administer the necessary medicine to make sure the child recuperates”. General Cevik…
In August 1947, the British departed from India after partitioning the country into two independent states. Two pillars of stability, the Indian Civil Service (ICS) and the Indian army were divided between the two countries with Pakistan inhering the north-western frontier of India and its associated tribal question. A tribal territory under British protection separated…
Not how well you see in a clear weather but how well you see in a foggy weather determines how better you are than others”. Mehmet Murat Ildan The failed coup of 15 July, 2016 was a watershed event of modern Turkish history. It was the final and unsuccessful attempt of a faction of the…
The introduction of every new major weapon requires reorganization of the army. The use of the machine gun in the First World War resulted in new organization. On the eve of the Great war, the British army had one machine gun section of two guns with each infantry and cavalry regiment. In October 1915 the…
This book by Major General Syed Ali Hamid is the most authoritative account of the history of Pakistan armoured corps. Major General Syed Ali Hamid is a second-generation Pakistani cavalry officer with keen interest in military history, he has compiled the most comprehensive account of the armoured corps starting with mechanization of Indian armoured corps…
“It is difficult to envisage some thirty or forty generals and a smaller number of admirals and air force commanders appointed solely by Providence to be the sole judges of what the nation needs”. The Times, April 6, 1961 In 2017, Pakistan is going through another cycle of severely strained civil-military relations. While a certain level…
“A tree won’t fall with a single blow”. Turkish proverb A failed coup attempt by some members of the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) in July 2016 made international headlines for a few days. The news quickly faded away and a firm clamp down and a purge inside Turkey prevented any detailed information about the dramatic changes…
