Pakistan - Miscellaneous

A Pakistani Response to the Marriott Attack - It is an unintended irony but many of the news stories of the horrific bomb blast at Islamabad's Marriott were followed by another headline: "foreign troops must stay out of Pakistan, says government" , by Stephen P. Cohen - Brookings

Casualties of another war - The Marriott bombing is terrible revenge for the Afghan campaign that has gone so badly wrong , by Tariq Ali - Guardian

High stakes in Islamabad and Washington - As Pakistan's situation worsens, Zardari faces paying for the Bush administration's desperation to leave a lasting legacy , by Simon Tisdall - Guardian

A question of trust in Pakistan, the land of the conspiracy theory - But Mr Zardari faces an even greater challenge at home, where many Pakistanis see the rising tide of Islamist violence as part of a foreign conspiracy or, even, something to be supported if it harms America , by Isambard Wilkinson - Telegraph

Pakistan: a country on fire - The rubble of the Islamabad hotel bombing leaves Pakistan with only one option: to escape from the Washington-Taliban vice that traps it , by Ayesha Siddiqa - Open Democracy

Pakistan will prevail against terrorism - There are moments in history that define nations, and also define men. For Pakistan, we have reached a critical crossroad that will determine the nature of our future, or if we will have one , by Asif Ali Zardari - Boston Globe

Pakistan’s Faith in Its New Leader Is Shaken - A week after the bomb attack on the Marriott Hotel here, Pakistan is struggling to deal with a financial meltdown and a terrorism threat that has moved to the nation’s heart and badly shaken confidence in the new government among Pakistanis, diplomats and investors alike , by Jane Parlez - NYT

The Long Road to Chaos in Pakistan - “All roads lead to FATA,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik said. If the past is any guide, Mr. Malik’s statement is almost certainly correct. But what Mr. Malik did not say was that those same roads, if he chose to follow them, would very likely loop back to Islamabad itself , by Dexter Filkins - NYT

Bush's third war - U.S. attacks inside Pakistan mark an escalation that may bedevil the next president , by Andrew J. Bacevich - LAT

Support to Pakistan distorts Asia's balance of power - Giving Pakistan artificially inflated military capabilities that it could not afford on its own poisons US relations with New Delhi. It emboldens Pakistani hawks to support anti-Indian militants in Kashmir, tribal insurgents in northeast India, and jihadi leaders who orchestrate terrorist attacks in India from bases in Bangladesh as well as Pakistan , Selig S. Harrison - Boston Globe

Tribes in Pakistan turn against the Taliban - Intensive Pakistani military action in the border areas has emboldened several tribes to turn against Taliban militants , by Isambard Wilkinson - The National

Terrorist attacks in Pakistan stir anger at U.S. - Nineteen percent of Pakistanis have 'positive' views toward Al Qaeda, according to a BBC poll released Sunday , by Issam Ahmed - CSM

Heeding the lessons of another war - Forty years ago, the United States began to mount raids into Cambodia and to undermine the government of King Sihanouk in order to cut Vietcong supply lines....The U.S. is now making the same mistake in Afghanistan and Pakistan. If continued, ground incursions by U.S. troops across the border into Pakistan in search of the Taliban and Al Qaeda risk drastically undermining the Pakistani state, society and army , by Maleeha Lodhi and Anatol Lieven

Next U.S. leader must revamp Pakistan policy-study - Pakistan Policy Working Group, a bipartisan group of a about a dozen experts on U.S.-Pakistan relations, said the nuclear-armed Muslim country of 160 million people could pose the "single greatest challenge" for the next U.S. president , by Paul Eckert - Reuters

Is the U.S-Pakistan Alliance Against Terrorism Coming to an End? - Recent events in Pakistan have raised critical issues concerning the continuation of Pakistan’s support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism in Afghanistan. Commencing with the enormous backlash in Pakistan in the aftermath of the raid by U.S. Special Forces on Angoori Ada in the tribal area of South Waziristan on September 3. , by Tariq Mahmud Ashraf - Jamestown

Marriott bombing: a missed opportunity - The new government has spoken several times of the importance of building a national consensus on Pakistan’s need to battle terrorism for its own survival. The aftermath of the devastating bombing, some observers are saying, was the right time to build such a consensus , by Nirupama Subramanian - The Hindu

Confronting Taliban, Pakistan Finds Itself at War - War has come to Pakistan, not just as terrorist bombings, but as full-scale battles, leaving Pakistanis angry and dismayed as the dead, wounded and displaced turn up right on their doorstep , by Jane Parlez - NYT

The Most Difficult Job in the World - Asif Ali Zardari used to sport a full moustache, jet black and rakish in the style of the avid polo player he once was. But sometime in the past year he trimmed it short and let its salt-and-pepper colors show. It befits the sober role he has now assumed, at 53, as the president of Pakistan, probably the world's most difficult -- and dangerous -- political job , interview by Bret Stephens - WSJ

Is it our war or not? - It is being said that the war Pakistan is fighting is actually America's war and has been thrust on us. Secondly, it is also said that if Pakistan was not advancing US interests there would be peace. This is an absurd type of reasoning based on a partial reading of history. The real cause of instability is the absence of an analysis of the process of identity formation in Pakistani since 1947 , by by Khalid Aziz - The News

From the Council of Foreign Relations

Pakistan Policy Working Group: The Next Chapter: The United States and Pakistan - Pakistan may be the single greatest challenge facing the next American President. The sixth most populous country in the world is suffering its greatest internal crises since partition, with security, economic, and political interests in the balance - CFR

Pakistan's All Weather Ally - As the controversial nuclear deal between India and the United States moves toward a final review in the U.S. Congress, Pakistan appears to be pushing for a similar deal (IANS) with China , by Jayshree Bajoria - CFR

U.S-Pakistan Military Cooperation - ....But U.S. covert military operations inside Pakistan along the Afghan border (including revelations of possible ground raids by U.S. Special Operations Forces), Pakistan's political instability, and Islamabad's questionable record on terrorism have thrown one of America's most important military alliances into disarray , by Greg Bruno and Jayshree Bajoria - CFR