Traveling this week, and the First Podcast

As you read this, I’m prob­a­bly on a plane to DC to attend the Jamestown Foundation’s con­fer­ence, “Pakistan’s Trou­bled Fron­tier: The Future of FATA and the NWFP.” The break­out speak­ers include Ahmed Rashid, Imtiaz Ali (a for­mer Knight Fel­low like myself) and David Kil­cullen, author of “The Acci­den­tal Guer­rilla: Fight­ing Small Wars in the Midst of […]

'Children of the Taliban' on Frontline Tonight

The Front­line report, “Chil­dren of the Tal­iban,” looks pretty good, and it’s any­where near Frontline’s usual stan­dards of excel­lence, it will be. From some of the pro­mo­tional lit­er­a­ture: “Have you seen the Tal­iban in your area?” The ques­tion is put to a 10-year-old Pak­istani girl near the start of this Tues­day night’s broad­cast of “Chil­dren of the […]

Zardari Surrenders in the Swat Valley

Pak­istani Pres­i­dent Asif Ali Zardari signed into law a peace deal with mil­i­tants in the Swat Val­ley that would enshrine Islamic law in the for­mer Alpine tourist resort just 100 miles from Islam­abad. The above video shows what can be expected under the Pak­istani Taliban’s rule. Zardari is weak. He was being pres­sured by the U.S. and […]

US Navy 3, Somali Pirates 0

Wow, mad props to the Navy SEALS who took out those three pirates hold­ing Capt. Richard Phillips. Seri­ously, that was some James Bond kind of shoot­ing. But even so, some may find it hard to believe a band of rag-tag, sandal-wearing, AK-toting mal­con­tents can hold off and frus­trate the might and fury of the U.S. Navy, […]

Slouching Towards Oblivion

There can be no ques­tion the Pak­istani state is com­ing under increas­ing strain from mil­i­tants, its polit­i­cal sys­tem and its inter­na­tional rela­tions. The ques­tion is, Where is its break­ing point and what can be done to pre­vent it? And if it comes, then what? Mil­i­tant pres­sures A largely tak­firi and Pash­tun insur­gency has been spread­ing out of […]