It’s really the last sentence of the two-paragraph joint statement emerging from national security adviser Jim Jones and CIA Director Leon Panetta’s visit to Pakistan that’s important. “President Zardari noted that Pakistan desires a long-term, multifaceted, and durable relationship with the United States which no incident should be able More…
Kalsoom Lakhani over at Changing Up Pakistan takes a look at the conclusion of this week’s ministerial talks.
[A]s expected, a diplomatic “We’re Just Not That Into You” move on the civilian nuclear deal and drone strike technology, but a thumbs up on the substantial topics, i.e. development.
The Wall Street Journal reports ahead of tomorrow’s U.S.-Pakistani foreign ministerial talks:
Pakistan sent a 56-page document to the U.S. ahead of strategic talks scheduled for Wednesday, seeking expanded military and economic aid in what some American officials believe is an implicit offer to crack down in return on
I’ve confirmed with Pakistan’s Washington embassy that Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, the chief of staff of the Pakistani Army, will arrive in D.C. early next week. He’ll spend four days in town, probably joining Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi for Wednesday’s big bilateral talks at the State Department, and definitely More…
Wondering what exactly is up with the Pakistanis capturing Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy commander of the Afghan Taliban? Perhaps the beginnings of clarity will come next week, when a high-level Pakistani delegation comes to town for the first foreign minister-to-foreign minister dialogue. This has been all over More…
A great piece in The Washington Post gives real reason to believe that the apparently-torrid pace of arrests in Pakistan of Afghan Taliban leaders is the result of a real strategic shift by Pakistani leadership that cultivated and then tolerated the Taliban for years. The arrest of More…
With Pakistani public opinion behind the military push against the Taliban, Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, the Army chief of staff, declared that the tide has “decisively turned” in the government’s favor in the Swat Valley. This is as premature a claim of victory as when Lt. Gen. John More…
The Pakistani Army is claiming that it has practically cleared the Taliban out of the Swat Valley. Now comes the real counterinsurgency test: holding the area. In this (sadly unembeddable) video from the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, you can see a lot of creative angles of Pakistani soldiers letting off More…
Take a look at this Washington Post piece about a measure of optimism emerging from the Obama administration about Pakistan. Discount the happy talk — apparently al-Qaeda is taking some hits in Pakistan, and that would be nice to believe, but the claim is asserted and not demonstrated — More…
Great piece from The New York Times’ Jane Perlez about the Pakistani army’s impending urban combat with the Taliban in the Swat Valley city of Mingora. About 10,000 civilians remain in the mostly empty city, if the government’s claims are to be considered credible, and the Taliban appear to More…
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