In The News

Can Anyone Control Pakistan's ISI Spies?

Aamer Ahmed Khan June 9, 2011
Pakistanis' trust in the country’s intelligence service, the ISI, has been shaken by recent events, but last month reached an all-time low, after the corpse of journalist Saleem Shazad was found with signs of torture. Shazad, the Pakistan bureau chief with Asia Times Online, who had previously been warned by ISI, disappeared shortly after publishing an investigative piece connecting...

The Battle for Pakistan

Bruce Riedel June 2, 2011
Pakistan's conflicting policy of fighting Al Qaeda while supporting Islamist militants against India has boomeranged spectacularly. Former intelligence official Bruce Riedel, now senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy in the Brookings Institution, discounts the notion that Pakistan is a failed state. It is a state under siege by the very radicals nurtured by elements of...

India Must Tread Carefully in Africa

James Lamont May 31, 2011
Since the mid-17th century, spurred by colonialism, Indians have crossed the Indian Ocean for jobs and trade in the nations of eastern and southern Africa. Yet once-isolated China quickly caught up during the past two decades, forming deep connections over commodities trading, economic development and political summits, explains James Lamont in the Financial Times,. During a May trip to Ethiopia...

Nation of the Forest

Cathy Shufro May 30, 2011
Urbanization’s many pressures make it easier for people to alter long-held customs. For example, in Bhutan, city dwellers didn’t protest a rule aimed at protecting forests by reducing the number of prayer flags to mourn a loved one’s death, explains Cathy Shufro in an article for Yale Alumni Magazine. “Bhutanese have formulated guidelines, infused with Buddhist values, for how to reconcile old...

Something Dramatic

B. Raman May 20, 2011
Pakistan’s military is furious about the US conducting surprise raids in Pakistani territory. The deep mistrust between two allies was revealed after the US killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad without notifying Pakistani counterparts. US analysts question whether Pakistanis helped shield bin Laden, a fugitive since the 9/11 attacks in 2001, and US politicians threatened to reduce military aid....

Post-bin Laden: Pakistan’s Hour of Choice

Sadanand Dhume May 17, 2011
The Pakistani military at times has condoned extremism, specifically to needle India or squeeze US military aid. But terrorism is not a precision tool. Pakistan’s reputation as a trustworthy partner could be at an all-time low after the US discovered and killed bin Laden hiding near a Pakistani military academy. The international community is wary of Pakistan’s many links to global terrorism....

Sweet as Can Be?

May 16, 2011
The purpose of some alliances is to counter a rival’s power. Both China and Pakistani have long aimed to contain India’s power. Now “Pakistan seems keen to foster the impression that new tensions with America might nudge it even closer towards China,” suggests an essay in the Economist. Yet a downturn in the US-Pakistani relationship after the US secretly sent a team in to kill terror mastermind...