Pashtun
versus Western culture of peacemaking
The policy of peace agreements
in the tribal belt of Pakistan
Dr
BETTINA ROBOTKA urges upon the need for
a conflict transformation and looks into
the substance and constraints of the peace
agreements in Pakistan's tribal belt.
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Pakistan’s
role in the American “war on terror”
in Afghanistan
Since 2001 when the US decided to launch
its “global war on terror”
starting it in Afghanistan, Pakistan is
the most important ally in this war. Today,
seven years down the line, the war is
still going on and seems to get more intense
with no end in sight for the years to
come. While the US and the West have contributed
in the first place financially and technologically,
Pakistan has been taking the brunt of
the warfare on the ground. Right now it
deploys 100,000 troops along the Afghan
border. With regard to the casualties
informed guesses suggest that officially
it has lost about 1500 security personal
with more than 2000 wounded. Civilian
deaths in the tribal areas are reported
to be around 1500 with another 3000 wounded.1
These numbers could even be higher because
the readiness of the army to share the
real losses is quite limited; after all
they are fighting their own population,
and after seven years of sacrifices and
with a growing number of victims, the
support of the population in Pakistan
and even within the army itself2 for this
war is vanishing. In addition to this,
the war could not be contained in the
tribal areas but has spread out into the
whole of Pakistan endangering the lives
of each and everybody. During the whole
year of 2007, series of suicide attacks
and road side bombings rocked the country
from FATA to Karachi, claiming the lives
of more than 2467 people, including 949
civilians, 467 security force and 1051
militants by November 10.3 The report
quoted here commented already at the time
of its publication (November 2007) that
“events in NWFP show signs of hurtling
entirely out of control, providing disturbing
indices of the magnitude of Pakistan’s
slide into anarchy”..........more
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COIN Strategy
Columnist
Gp Capt (Retd) SM HALI examines a RAND
report on countering insurgency in the
Muslim world and its findings.
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Introduction
Pakistan has been an important U.S. partner
since the events of September 11, assisting
in the hunt for al Qaeda and Taliban leaders
on its western frontier regions. Despite
its contributions, some within the U.S.
assert that Pakistan needs to do more,
especially in light of continuing American
military aid. Given these factors and
the upcoming elections in USA, Pakistan-USA
relations have been the focus of intense
scrutiny by the two governments, their
peoples, and the media. Further, Pakistan’s
nuclear program and its ongoing tensions
with its neighbor Afghanistan also pose
unique challenges to the bilateral strategic
relationship.
Insurgencies like those in Iraq and Afghanistan
are likely to be a feature of the global
security environment for the foreseeable
future. The Pentagon recently commissioned
a report to study the ongoing insurgency
and recommend a strategy to combat it.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution
that helps improve policy and decision-making
through research and analysis. For 60
years, the RAND Corporation has pursued
its nonprofit mission by conducting research
on important and complicated problems.
Initially, RAND (the name of which was
derived from a contraction of the term
research and development) focused on issues
of national security. Eventually, RAND
expanded its intellectual reserves to
offer insight into other areas, such as
business, education, health, law, and
science.........more
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Challenges Impacting Strategic Thought
of Pakistan
Columnist
TAUQEER H. TAKI SIRGANA argues that Pakistan
needs to evolve strategic thought based
on the visions of our forefathers and
in harmony with prevailing environment.
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Introduction
Challenges and opportunities are opposite
sides of the same coin. This needed
to be understood and challenges converted
into opportunities. Though Pakistan
has progressed from its humble beginning
to a nuclear power, it has not experienced
sustained economic growth and a lot
more could have been achieved; the reasons
being that we failed to evolve strategic
thought based on the vision of our fore
fathers, in harmony with the prevailing
environments. Keeping myself unbiased
with the worst experiences of my generation,
I should also put the highest onus for
today’s unfortunate situation
on our military dictators and political
leaders.............more
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