This Commentary first appeared as an op-ed on Foreign Policy's AfPak Channel, August 18, 2010.
The desperate plight of over 20 million Pakistani citizens displaced and dispossessed by the most ferocious flooding in the history of the young state is heartbreaking. Nature is extracting a cruel price on a population already racked by debilitating poverty and a brutal insurgency.
The Middle East Institute is proud to host Salman Taseer, the Governor of Pakistan's Punjab province. He will examine Pakistan's accomplishments over the past year and its looming challenges.
Children can learn many lessons from playing sports: leadership, self-confidence, and the concept of working toward a common goal are a few such lessons. These are all skills that, when applied in life off the field, can augment the potential for success there as well.
The Middle East Institute is proud to host Kandahar-based writers and researchers Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn for a discussion about the state of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the current situation in Kandahar. Strick van Linschoten and Kuehn translated and edited My Life with the Taliban, an account of the inner workings of the organization from the perspective of former Taliban minister and ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, who was arrested following the overthrow of the Taliban and spent four years in Guantanamo Bay.
Writing on Culture: The Missing Factor in Discussions on the Middle East
The Middle East Institute is proud to host MEI scholar Andrea Rugh for a discussion about Middle Eastern culture and her most recent book, Simple Gestures: A Cultural Journey Into the Middle East. Since US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, the importance of culture has become all too clear. Yet, although most scholars agree on its importance, few address culture in ways that provide better understanding to audiences who might benefit, such as policy makers, the media and the American public.
This Op/Ed was published first on February 3, 2010 by McClatchy Tribune.
The bipartisan Kerry Lugar Bill provides a multi-year, super-sized economic aid program to the people of Pakistan. This is the right approach to improved US-Pakistan relations. The majority of Pakistanis distrust the US because they believe we favor military dictators over civilian democrats and are quick to abandon promised economic aid programs once we have achieved our security goals.
In his book From My Memories, Khaled Sediq recounts the following incident from the mid-1960s regarding a visit by him and some other members of his family to Mohammad Zahir, King of Afghanistan from 1933 to 1973:
Finally, after uttering some conventional statements, such as, Afghanistan belongs to you and you belong to Afghanistan, he also added: ‘Even though unpleasant events have happened, yet, I have forgotten about them, you, too, try to forget.’[1]
From Identity Crisis to Identity in Crisis in Afghanistan
When social order is politically disturbed in a society like Afghanistan, inter- and intra-group dynamics set forces in motion that cannot be harnessed once unleashed. While group dynamics dictate, for instance, that majorities behave as an integrative and cohesive force as their sense of loyalty lies in the wellbeing of the collective whole, a minority’s interests may on occasion diverge in the pursuit of greener pastures across the fence, allowing themselves to be used as vulnerable pawns by others.
Secretary Clinton’s visit to Pakistan has been a serious attempt to use public diplomacy to help the troubled US Pakistan relations. Her reaching out to people with a mix of soft power and hard talk was refreshing. It is time to ‘clear the air’ she said. But a lot more work needs to be done in the realm of policy to bring about a meaningful change in the relationship. The problems between Pakistan and the United States, referred to as the “trust deficit” for want of a better word, are many and mask much complexity at the heart of policy and systemic issues on both sides.
Since 2007, Pakistan, though not on the verge of becoming a failed state, nonetheless has been gripped by a series of interrelated crises. As the contributors to this volume demonstrate, Pakistan’s current travails have deep and tangled historical roots. They also demonstrate that Pakistan’s domestic situation historically has been influenced by, and has affected developments in neighboring countries as well as those farther afield.
US Relations with Pakistan: The Need for a Strategic Shift
Originally posted May 2008
Pakistan has come to reflect and affect many of the critical issues in South Asia that worry the US foreign policy establishment, the media, and the public. But US officials are crafting policy responses to deal with Pakistan that are focused excessively narrowly on a single issue — the war on terrorism. In addition to exacerbating Pakistan’s own problems, these efforts have undermined Pakistan’s capacity and political will to fight this war. As a consequence neither America’s nor Pakistan’s best interests are being served.
