Most Pakistanis, while not oblivious to the country’s multiple challenges, still think that the country, resting on weak foundations of democracy, conservative religious orthodoxy, and poor economy, remains fundamentally instable. Optimists think the country has survived numerous crises over the past more than six and half decades and there is little reason to think it…
The negotiation phenomenon has officially started and temporarily barred between the US and the Afghan Taliban at Doha. The Karzai administration is also on board with a few reservations. However, reservations are becoming a stumbling block not only against the US but also for the entire dialogue process. The way Karzai is pronouncing statements against…
With its waning social gauge, degenerating economy, dividing society on ethnic, sectarian bases and the government’s mislaid priorities, Pakistan is emerging as a disturbed state. Institutions like independent judiciary, strong vibrant civil society and moderate-thinking Pakistanis are delaying its fatal decline. Pakistan as a state is weakening but the Pakistani society is strengthening with every…
Pakistan is writing a classic military history of the blow-by-blow fighting against insurgents. Military law enforcement operations in Waziristan, Swat, Dir, and recently in Tirah valley make an irrefutable case for where the laurels lay for the victories and where the blame lies for the retreats. Lack of Civil-military coordination and gap of communication or…
During general elections in Pakistan every major political party advocates popular policies and catchy slogans like roti, kapra aur makan (bread, clothing and shelter) in order to win public support. In other words, they try to win elections to implement their preferred policies. In both cases, the aim is to govern. Religious parties are no…
Pakistan is passing through a process of transition from authoritarian (military as well as civilian) rule to rule of public representatives. This shift is not possible without a significant intellectual and policy discourse analysis. There is a need of the inter-play of social and political forces as a backdrop of debate about substantive and procedural…
American presidential elections have always been the victim of dichotomy. It is won and lost on the basis of domestic agenda. But, on the contrary, the elected president’s legacy is shaped by foreign and defense policies that he forms in the next four years. Same is the case with Obama’s second term. He has won…
Pakistan and India are in the midst of a Cold War to influence developments in Afghanistan. Since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 both have injected their confrontation into Afghan affairs where they follow a zero sum game in which the gain of one is the loss of the other. This equation is…
Various sets of conceptual tools have been developed in order to understand international relations. It is assumed that there is some sort of pattern in the world. The disagreements are not, for the most part, over facts, which are largely known, but over the interpretation of facts. In other words, people have different theories of…
