The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State

Author: Declan Walsh
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393249921
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 301

Book Description
Winner of the 2021 Overseas Press Club of America Cornelius Ryan Award The former New York Times Pakistan bureau chief paints an arresting, up-close portrait of a fractured country. Declan Walsh is one of the New York Times’s most distinguished international correspondents. His electrifying portrait of Pakistan over a tumultuous decade captures the sweep of this strange, wondrous, and benighted country through the dramatic lives of nine fascinating individuals. On assignment as the country careened between crises, Walsh traveled from the raucous port of Karachi to the salons of Lahore, and from Baluchistan to the mountains of Waziristan. He met a diverse cast of extraordinary Pakistanis—a chieftain readying for war at his desert fort, a retired spy skulking through the borderlands, and a crusading lawyer risking death for her beliefs, among others. Through these “nine lives” he describes a country on the brink—a place of creeping extremism and political chaos, but also personal bravery and dogged idealism that defy easy stereotypes. Unbeknownst to Walsh, however, an intelligence agent was tracking him. Written in the aftermath of Walsh’s abrupt deportation, The Nine Lives of Pakistan concludes with an astonishing encounter with that agent, and his revelations about Pakistan’s powerful security state. Intimate and complex, attuned to the centrifugal forces of history, identity, and faith, The Nine Lives of Pakistan offers an unflinching account of life in a precarious, vital country.

Pakistan

Author: Anatol Lieven
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1610391624
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 594

Book Description
In the past decade Pakistan has become a country of immense importance to its region, the United States, and the world. With almost 200 million people, a 500,000-man army, nuclear weapons, and a large diaspora in Britain and North America, Pakistan is central to the hopes of jihadis and the fears of their enemies. Yet the greatest short-term threat to Pakistan is not Islamist insurgency as such, but the actions of the United States, and the greatest long-term threat is ecological change. Anatol Lieven's book is a magisterial investigation of this highly complex and often poorly understood country: its regions, ethnicities, competing religious traditions, varied social landscapes, deep political tensions, and historical patterns of violence; but also its surprising underlying stability, rooted in kinship, patronage, and the power of entrenched local elites. Engagingly written, combining history and profound analysis with reportage from Lieven's extensive travels as a journalist and academic, Pakistan: A Hard Country is both utterly compelling and deeply revealing.

No Exit from Pakistan

Author: Daniel S. Markey
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107045460
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Book Description
This book tells the story of the tragic and often tormented relationship between the United States and Pakistan. Pakistan's internal troubles have already threatened U.S. security and international peace, and Pakistan's rapidly growing population, nuclear arsenal, and relationships with China and India will continue to force it upon America's geostrategic map in new and important ways over the coming decades. This book explores the main trends in Pakistani society that will help determine its future; traces the wellsprings of Pakistani anti-American sentiment through the history of U.S.-Pakistan relations from 1947 to 2001; assesses how Washington made and implemented policies regarding Pakistan since the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001; and analyzes how regional dynamics, especially the rise of China, will likely shape U.S.-Pakistan relations. It concludes with three options for future U.S. strategy, described as defensive insulation, military-first cooperation, and comprehensive cooperation. The book explains how Washington can prepare for the worst, aim for the best, and avoid past mistakes.

Pakistan's War on Terrorism

Author: Samir Puri
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136577440
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 177

Book Description
This book examines Pakistan's strategies in the war against Islamist armed groups that began late 2001, following the 9/11 attacks. The significance of the war inside Pakistan can hardly be understated. Starting in the tribal territories adjacent to Afghanistan, Pakistan’s war has come to engulf the majority of the country through a brutal campaign of suicide bombings. Thousands of Pakistani lives have been lost and the geostrategic balance of the region has been thrown into deep uncertainty. Pakistan's War on Terrorism is an account of a decade-long war following the 9/11 attacks, that is yet to be chronicled in systematic fashion as a campaign of military manoeuvre and terrorist reprisal. It is also an analytic account of Pakistan’s strategic calculus during this time, both in military and political terms, and how these factors have been filtered by Pakistan’s unique strategic culture. This text will be of great interest to students of Asian Politics, Terrorism and Political Violence, and Security Studies in general.

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate

Author: Owen L. Sirrs
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317196090
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Book Description
This book is the first comprehensive study of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI). The rise of Pakistan-backed religious extremist groups in Afghanistan, India, and Central Asia has focused international attention on Pakistan’s premier intelligence organization and covert action advocate, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate or ISI. While ISI is regarded as one of the most powerful government agencies in Pakistan today, surprisingly little has been written about it from an academic perspective. This book addresses critical gaps in our understanding of this agency, including its domestic security mission, covert backing of the Afghan Taliban, and its links to al-Qa’ida. Using primary source materials, including declassified intelligence and diplomatic reporting, press reports and memoirs, this book explores how ISI was transformed from a small, negligible counter intelligence outfit of the late-1940s into the national security behemoth of today with extensive responsibilities in domestic security, political interference and covert action. This study concludes that reforming or even eliminating ISI will be fundamental if Pakistan is to successfully transition from an army-run, national security state to a stable, democratic society that enjoys peaceful relations with its neighbours. This book will be of interest to students of intelligence studies, South Asian politics, foreign policy and international security in general.

Cleaning Pakistan’s Air

Author: Ernesto Sánchez-Triana
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464802351
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 207

Book Description
The harm to Pakistanis’ health, economy, and environment from urban air pollution is among the highest in South Asia, exceeding several high-profile causes of mortality and morbidity in Pakistan. This report details a broad spectrum of research on Pakistan’s air quality management challenges and presents concrete steps to achieve improvements.

Opportunities in the Development of Pakistan's Private Sector

Author: Sadika Hameed
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442240318
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 69

Book Description
Pakistan’s economic crisis is one of the main sources of its instability, but government and donor efforts to stabilize and grow its economy have so far been inadequate. One of the barriers to investing in Pakistan’s private sector has been the perceptions of risk due to insecurity and corruption. This report suggests that opportunities for economic cooperation are hidden among those real risks. It reviews a number of sectors, focusing on small and medium-size enterprises, where foreign investors might find opportunities for joint ventures and investments, including the stock market, financial services, information and communication technologies, agriculture, consumer goods, and private education. Prospects for growth in these sectors derive from Pakistan’s large and growing population, consumer spending trends, and other comparative advantages. This report should be treated not as a guide to investing but as a study of where U.S.-Pakistan policy dialogues might focus on connecting investors with entrepreneurs.

Hearing and Briefing on U.S. Contributions to the Response to Pakistan's Humanitarian Crisis

Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 80

Book Description

Pakistan’s Economy and Trade in the Age of Global Value Chains

Author: Asian Development Bank
Publisher: Asian Development Bank
ISBN: 9292691554
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 138

Book Description
This publication examines the economy and trade of Pakistan in the context of global value chains (GVCs), or cross-border production networks. The report combines innovative analytical tools with the latest available data to explore Pakistan's involvement in GVCs. It produces indicators on factors including Pakistan's rate of GVC participation, the lengths of its GVC production, its patterns of specialization, and the price competitiveness of its exports. It draws on the Multiregional Input–Output database of the Asian Development Bank, the only time series of intercountry input–output tables to date that includes Pakistan and preliminary data for 2020.

Securing Pakistan's Tribal Belt

Author: Daniel Seth Markey
Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations
ISBN: 0876094140
Category : Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Pakistan)
Languages : en
Pages : 90

Book Description
Few dimensions of dealing with Pakistan are the source of as much frustration as the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, the subject of this Council Special Report commissioned by the Center for Preventive Action. Daniel Markey analyzes the unique challenges of this region, which has long been largely outside Pakistani government control. He argues that the United States must work with Islamabad to confront security threats and improve governance and economic opportunity in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), something that could reduce militancy. The report lays out a cooperative, incentives-based strategy for the United States that would aim to increase the capacity of the Pakistani government and its security institutions, foster political and economic reform, and build confidence in the bilateral relationship. At the same time, the report outlines alternatives to be considered should this positive approach fail to advance U.S. interests. These alternatives, be they coercive sanctions to induce Pakistan to act or unilateral U.S. action against security threats, could bring some short-term progress in dealing with significant threats -- but at the cost of bringing about a more hostile Pakistan that would cease to be a partner of any sort.