(Opinion) Afghanistan: looking for new friends

With several NATO countries withdrawing troops in Afghanistan and the United States preparing to leave in 2014, Afghanistan is now looking to make itself some new friends as it prepares for life without US and NATO assistance. Afghanistan has recently made a concerted effort to make any ally out of India, an effort supported and encouraged by the United States they are seen by the U.S. as a “stabilizing power in South Asia”[1].  The relationship between Afghanistan and India seems to be flourishing as India has “reached an agreement last year for some senior afghan officers to receive training in India”[2].

Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai has even ‘invited’ India filmmakers to shoot their movies promising “safety and provision of logistical support to the filmmakers”[3]. However, while building bridges with India is a step in the right direction, its relationship with Pakistan that probably should be on the top of the country’s agenda with regards to its security. While there is strain between the countries,  Pakistan and Afghanistan do communicate with each other and have worked together to establish peace as both countries “have… appealed to Taliban-led insurgent groups to participate in the Afghan political reconciliation process aimed at ending the war… asking the militants to sever links with al-Qaida and other international terror networks”[4].

check out the full article at:

 http://www.filmannex.com/posts/blog_show_post/opinion-afghanistan-looking-for-new-friends/57827

(Opinion) Pakistan: Reason to worry?

There are many reasons as to why the United States are in Pakistan, but the most prominent reason is because they have nuclear weapons in a country that has always been on the edge of political, economic and social disaster.

US anxieties about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal went into overdrive with the ambitious attack by terrorists on a military air base “which is thought to house part of the country's nuclear arsenal”[1] . Former head of the CIA and current US defence secretary Leon Panetta went on record revealing US fears of “Pakistan’s nuclear weapons falling to the wrong hands” should terrorism not be tackled effectively[2].

The fears of the United States have over Pakistan’s security are vindicated as militants have carried out similar attacks on other military assets with militants killing ten people attacking a naval base in Karachi[3].

However Pakistani military officials were quick to rebuff suggestions of lax security. A spokesman for the Pakistan foreign office insisted that Pakistan’s “strategic assets are safe” and stressed that “all measures have been taken in this regard”[4].

However, Pakistan and the United States attempts to tackle terrorists in the country have been poor to say the least. This is exemplified by President Obama signing a bill into law that gives secretary of state Hilary Clinton a month to decide whether the Haqqani network ”meets the criteria of a terrorist group” despite the US and others accusing the group of a number of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan[5]. Pakistan’s government and military has effectively surrendered north and South Waziristan in the North West of the country having paid a costly price trying to stem the flow of ‘Arab and central Asian fighters’[6].

The US drone strike campaign in the region has brought about almost daily reports of the death of ‘militants’ despite concerns over criteria used to classify who are or are not ‘militants’ and the frequent use of drones in patches of the middle east hostile to the policy ambitions of the west. It is also in part responsible for why, according to a poll by the pew research center, 74% of Pakistanis see the United Sates as an ‘enemy’[7].

In sum, while Pakistan remains a cause for concern for obvious reasons, the US must realise that there are other ways to help Pakistan than drone the north west of country to little effect. However the political class of the US and Pakistan must put aside their differences if they are. to quell terrorism in Pakistan

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[1] J. Boone, 2012, Suicide bombers storm Pakistan airbase, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/16/suicide-bombers-storm-pakistan-base

[2] Quoted by The Times Of India, 2012, Pakistan’s nukes might fall into hands of terrorists: Panetta,   http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-08-15/pakistan/33216067_1_nuclear-weapons-nuclear-power-terrorists

[3] A. Siddique, 2012, How safe Is Pakistan’s Nuclear Arsenal?,

http://www.rferl.org/content/how-safe-is-pakistans-nuclear-arsenal/24681549.html

[4] A. Hussain, 2012, Leon Panetta assertion rejected: Pakistan’s strategic assets safe: FO, http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/172/1228620/

[5] The Express Tribune, 2012, Clinton considers blacklist haqqani network, http://tribune.com.pk/story/422327/clinton-considers-blacklisting-haqqani-network/

[6] BBC News, 2011, Haqqanis: Growth of a military network,

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14912957

[7] Pew Research center, 2012, Pakistani Public Opinion ever more critical of US, http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2297/pakistan-united-states-extremeist-groups-barack-obama-economic-aid-military-aid-taliban-haqqani-kashmir-khyber-pakhtunkhwa-asi-ali-zardari-yousaf-raza-gilani-imran-khan-tehreek-e-insaf-india

(Opinion) who would be a middle east president

While being a politician job is far from a walk in the park in any country or region, you would have to be insane to want to be a member of the political class in any country in the middle east of your choice. while the worst a politician can face in the west is the odd protest and chronic voter apathy, his counterpart in hthe middle east are either hound out of office by his fellow citizens or forced out by his own state apparatus.

Now this is not to say that politicians in the middle east have not earned this pressure as they frequent the top 20 of  the transparency corruption index and have either ordered or supported the brutal suppression of their own people.Nevertheless. Pakistan is perfect example of the point made above as Asif Zardari, the remarkably disliked president finds himself disliked a by the majority of Pakistani's, has to suffer the open ambivalence of the security forces and courts towards his presidency, and has a bad relationship with one of Pakistans very few allies anywhere, the united states.

 However some of it has brought upon himself as he has a string of untried corruption cases against his name and is seen as not really addressing any of Pakistan's many problems.With the Pakistani Supreme court reopening a corruption case against Zardari, leading to the president having appoint new prime minster after the last one refused to accept a court order, it adds to the well believed case the judiciary  favors the military over the president.

This dynamic can be seen in many middle eastern countries no better example than Egypt where the judiciary supported the Mubarak and the army positions wholeheartedly explaining the recent judicial dissolution of the constitution and parliament.

In sum, politics can be a dirty business were loyalty is low and apathy and suspicion is high but in the middle east being a politician is a dangerous and for some a deadly proposition.