Dancing with the devil
“The war on terror cannot be fought and is not to be fought in Afghan villages or homes or country. If there is a war on terror, then it has…
Anarchy at door, West starts to rebuild Libyan army
On a dusty parade ground outside Tripoli, young recruits march and bark out slogans for the new Libyan army that Western powers hope can turn the tide on militias threatening…
The genius of Mandela
Most of those paying tributes to Nelson Mandela are focusing on his qualities that they themselves hold precious and thus they present a variety of portraits. But he was a…
Lying to ourselves
EVER hear of Counter terrorism Pursuit Teams? The CIA’s 3,000-strong personal army culled from the best fighters in Afghanistan? The one the CIA keeps along the Pak-Afghan border and uses…
Commercial diplomacy
There have been many instances where Pakistan lost out on opportunities to establish a formidable presence in the global marketplace. More often than not, it was, and still is, the…
The echoes of November 2007
It was wheels down in Bangkok last Sunday for the special aircraft carrying Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Thailand for a three-day visit which served no purpose. The prime ministerial…
Assessing global risks
Three days of intense discussion at last week’s meeting of the World Economic Forum provided diverse perspectives on global trends and ended in a call for coordinated solutions to the…
Drones over Fata
They finally got to him. Hakeemullah Mehsud was taken out by a drone and ticked off the list of CIA targets that had the express approval of President Obama. The…
A new deal in West Asia?
Swiss radiation experts have confirmed the worst suspicion of independent observers of West Asia – that the death of Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat in 2004 in France was…
Fazlullah`s ascent
The ascendancy of Mullah Fazlullah as the chief of the banned militant outfit Tehreek-iTaliban Pakistan (TTP) has raised several questions. The death of Hakeemullah Mehsud in a drone strike on…
