Rehman Malik: Heading for the Hills?

This past Saturday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters he would resign if the private security company Blackwater (Xe) was found operating in Pakistan. Following the release of Jeremy Scahill’s piece in The Nation, “Blackwater’s Secret War in Pakistan,” he may have already snatched his toupee off the hat stand and headed for the hills.
Scahill, [...]

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Clint(on)’s Visit: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s first three-day visit to Pakistan [as Sec of State] has not been without drama. During her tour, the most high-level visit from the Obama administration, Clinton received both praise and criticism, with some media outlets deeming it a “charm offensive”  and others calling it “a PR exercise, but who will [...]

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The Art of Saying Nothing At All

I don’t know if you were able to catch Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on CNN’s Wolf Blitzer yesterday, but the official sat down and discussed U.S.-Pakistan relations with the news anchor, as well as America’s presence in Afghanistan. The interview went as expected, given the party lines/rhetoric that had to be toed, but [...]

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New Poll Finds that Most Pakistanis View Taliban as Critical Threat

On Wednesday, the LA Times reported the most ridiculously absurd story about the Pakistani Taliban. According to the news agency, juice bars in Lahore have been bombed after claims by militants that they are “dens of immorality” because men and women can meet and talk to one another (oh my!). The LA Times wrote, “Attacks [...]

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New Osama Bin Laden Tape as Obama Arrives in Middle East

On Wednesday, Al Jazeera aired segments of what they said was a new audiotape by Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. In the recording, Bin Laden asserted that U.S. policy in Pakistan has planted “new seeds of hatred and revenge against America,” adding that President Obama has proved he is “walking the same road [...]

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An Interesting Mix of Headlines

Thanks to Kashif Aziz over at Chowrangi, I now subscribe to Google news alerts on Pakistan, which has led to a continuous stream of breaking news headlines in my inbox throughout day. Looking back on Monday’s major stories, I found the impressive mix of headlines – particularly those related to the military offensive – to [...]

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The British-Pakistani ‘Link’

On Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged £665 million in aid over the next four years to Pakistan. Although much of the financial assistance will be geared towards Pakistan’s counter-terrorism (and hopefully, counterinsurgency) operations, £125 million will be earmarked for supporting education projects in the border area “in an effort to stop the spread [...]

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Children of the Taliban

On Tuesday, PBS [Public Broadcasting Service] Frontline/World aired a half hour documentary by Pakistani filmmaker/correspondent Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who traveled across the country to explore the growing popularity of the Taliban, as well as its impact on the next generation. I know many feel over-saturated with news regarding FATA and Swat, but I highly recommend watching [...]

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Obama Announces New Afghanistan/Pakistan Strategy

President Obama unveiled his new Afghanistan strategy to reporters today, after a “careful policy review” led by Brookings Institution’s Bruce Reidel. In his speech, Obama asserted the situation “is increasingly perilous,” and sought to answer the questions, “What is our purpose in Afghanistan?” and “Why do our men and women fight and still die there?” [...]

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Some Good Links…

The NY Times.com featured a really fantastic and powerful short documentary on the issue of female education in Swat Valley. The Times’ Adam Ellick and Irfan Ashraf profiled a Pakistani girl on the last day before the Taliban shut down her school, [click on the image below to watch the video].

At one point in the [...]

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