New York- On Friday evening, I launched the first issue of my new publication with the Jamestown Foundation called Militant Leadership Monitor. I have the free teaser article about the death of a Moro militant in Waziristan a few weeks…
Category: Pakistan
The Changing Strategic Gravity of Al-Qaeda DVD
New York- The Jamestown Foundation is selling a jam-packed DVD of its third annual terrorism conference entitled “The Changing Strategic Gravity of al-Qaeda” that was held on December 9th at the National Press Club. This extensive series of presentations covers…
The Changing Strategic Gravity of al-Qaeda
Washington D.C.- I’ll be moderating the South & Southeast Asia panel from 1:30 to 3 p.m. tomorrow at the National Press Club for the Jamestown Foundation’s third annual terrorism conference. Speakers on my panel will be Animesh Roul, Zachary Abuza,…
Baitullah Mehsud Dead?
Pakistani English-language newspaper Dawn is reporting on the possible death of Baitullah Mehsud in Wednesday’s missile strike which is believed to have killed one of his wives. Mehsud’s demise would mean an uncertain fate for the future of the TTP…
Hashoo Bombers Strike Again
Yesterday another one of the Hashwani family’s hotels was demolished in a well-planned and executed suicide attack in Peshawar. The Pearl Continental (PC) Hotel chain is owned by perhaps Pakistan’s most prominent Ismaili family, the Hashwanis. Major cooperations in…
Coincidence?
From time.com 14, May 2009:Last week I was randomly reading a piece in Time on Pakistan by Aryn Baker when I skimmed across something strange. In early April, I wrote a story on the Huffington Post critical of further military aid…
BBC Appearance on Drones and Demonization
I participated in a contentious debate on the BBC at the last minute today with Owen Bennett-Jones, author of Eye of the Storm, who was hosting a show from Islamabad. Initially, I didn’t realize I was on with a perennially…
A Lament for Pakistan
I have a piece this week on the Huffington Post on where Pakistan was and where it is or could be going. Read it here…
Pakistan’s Troubled Frontier
On April 15th, Jamestown hosted and exhaustive conference on the subject of Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province and its Federally Administered Tribal Areas. There’s too much else to include for the number of people gathered and the all the topics covered under…
BBC Radio Appearance
I participated in a World Have Your Say debate hosted by Madeline Morris on BBC World Service with guests Zahid Hussain, Times of London correspondent and author of Frontline Pakistan:The Struggle with Militant Islam, Walid Phares author of The Confrontation:Winning…
Will They Ever Learn? (Washington…that is)
Thursday’s edition of the New York Times had a cliched beltway piece by Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker espousing a Pentagon plea that it’s seeking three “new” billion dollars in military aid to Pakistan and must bypass the State Department…
Flash Point:India, Pakistan and Kashmir
New York-The New York University’s Center On Law and Security held a discussion on the role of the Kashmir conflict in the context of the South Asian security environment and the disputed region’s place in overall Indo-Pakistani relations. The speakers…
Pakistan’s Confused Militants
I was sitting with my family in an Indian restaurant in Queens, New York at our annual pre-Thanksgiving dinner as my eye occasionally darted up to the screen overhead with images of Mumbai’s Taj Hotel smoldering on a Hindi-language satellite…
A “Credible” Election
This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post. Today Pakistan awoke under a spell of relief. The electoral results seem, at least for the time being, to have been accepted as a sounding defeat by the ruling PML-Q. Rather than…
Pakistan’s Elections: Situation Critical
This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post. Tomorrow morning millions of voters in Pakistan will cast their ballots in perhaps the most crucial vote in the nation’s sixty years of independence. The bloody campaign season has been rocked by…
One Day in the Valley
I came to Indian-occupied Kashmir in the context of a larger trip around South Asia to document the fraying edges of the much-hyped Indian ascendancy that I’d been hearing about ad nauseam in the American media over that last…