Illustration by Esha Maharishi From the unannounced raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound that surprised and humiliated Pakistani officials, to a badly botched NATO operation that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, 2011 was not a great year for US-Pakistani relations. Many American policymakers are dismayed that neither friendship nor financial assistance has induced Pakistan to cooperate with American objectives in South Asia. Moreover, the strategic...
In July 2010, the monsoon rains began in Pakistan. Most people within Pakistan took the rains as a matter of course, ducking inside and waiting it out. But this time the rains did not stop. The waters crept over the banks of the Indus River, submerging farms and homes, destroying the livelihood of thousands. 1.2 million homes have either been damaged or destroyed; today 4 million Pakistanis are homeless; and 8 million remain dependent on aid, bu...
On October 7, 2010 the peace of the Sufi shrine in Karachi, a building with green and white mosaics ascending to a cupola, shattered in a double explosion from two suicide bombers, killing seven civilians and injuring 65 others. As the shrine’s tiles lay smashed in the street, the destroyed temple provided a visual symbol of a derelict Pakistani government torn apart by a new wave of violent domestic terrorism. Since 2005, militant organizations...
The World Leaders Forum hosted an event last evening on “U.S. Foreign Policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.” The event was co-sponsored by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), International Media, Advocacy and Communications (IMAC), SIPA, and the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA). Bill Grueskin, Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Professional Practice at the Columbia School of Jou...
President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari with the Obamas Over the last week, the US-Pakistan diplomatic imbroglio has thickened. A Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi, was apprehended last year for his collusion with the CIA. In Pakistan, it is illegal to be on the payroll of any foreign intelligence agency. Afridi had orchestrated a false vaccination scheme, which was actually designed to gather DNA samples on the residents of Abbottabad, the Pakis...
Dear Pakistan, It’s not you, it’s me. I just can’t live with this situation anymore. I know we’ve had our ups and downs in the past (our roller coaster relations used to be so thrilling,) but I don’t think I can do this anymore. We can no longer pretend to be real allies. After the attacks in 2001, I know that I asked a lot of you. In retrospect, my conduct may not have been quite fair. I was simply using you to get to Afghanistan, but that...
...onally. How exactly does environmental preservation promote peace? To answer this question it is best to see how environmental degradation and the inequitable access to resources in China, South Korea, and Japan; in India and Pakistan; and in Darfur leaves these states prone to conflict. After all, people living in developing countries are especially reliant on their natural environments, as their states do not have the infrastructure to provide...
...e right kind of envy, fires our ambitions as we see China creating wonderful infrastructure, that would be a very positive use of envy. On the other hand, you can also see the negative kind of envy occurring between India and Pakistan, where Pakistan is bent, not on trying to be as good as India, but in bringing India down, the way Duryodhana was to the Pandavas. He didn’t care how good he was, he just wanted the Pandavas to suffer. Envy can be a...
Last month, India announced a missile test that had capabilities to reach Beijing and Shanghai. The country’s reason for the missile test, according to Indian defense, was to build a credible minimum deterrence with no hostile effects. In likely response, Pakistan conducted the first test of its Shaheen 1-A intermediate-range ballistic missile less than a week after India. And even more recently, Pakistan has planned to test fire a brand new-cap...
...ly necessary battles are fought. But how has his actual foreign policy compared? Within his first term, we’ve seen the killing of Osama Bin Laden, the intervention in Libya, and an ever-escalating campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen. The arguable success of his policies has left both his supporters and detractors baffled. How can one begin to categorize these actions into the normal partisan divides? Were these wars instigated by the...
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