India and Pakistan have come to a fork in the road. Will the siblings continue the conflict that attended their birth 71 years ago and which has continued ever since, in the form of major wars, minor wars, insurgencies, and a cold war, indefinitely into the future, bringing with it all the hardships and deprivations […]
Saddam Hussein as a strategist
The military outcome of the 2003, Iraq War was never in doubt. How could a country that had been under 12 years of sanctions take on the world’s mightiest country? And yet Saddam Hussein decided to fight the US, promising to turn Iraq into the graveyard of invaders. How does one reconcile Saddam’s grandiosity with […]
Vignettes of New York City
The Boeing 757 touched down at the Newark International Airport on time. Through the aircraft window, the Manhattan skyline loomed in the distance, tinged with the evening light. The sky was overcast. Rain was in the forecast for tomorrow. To beat the traffic going into Manhattan, I decided to have dinner at the airport terminal, […]
Sizing up Pakistan’s prospects under Imran Khan
A new wave of optimism has swept the land. Millions appear convinced that in the next five years, corruption and poverty will be eliminated, harmony will replace long-standing hostility with Afghanistan and India, ties with China will deepen, and the one-sided relationship with the US will be reset and based on mutual respect. They expect […]
Lt-Gen Gul Hassan’s memoirs — inside the GHQ during the 1971 War
Most books about the army focus on its interference in politics or on its battles with India. Almost none discuss its wartime decision making. General Gul Hassan’s memoirs are the exception. His 30-year career in the army culminated in his becoming the commander-in-chief (C-in-C). And, as he reminds us in the sub-title of the book, […]
Could Israel have thwarted the 1973 Arab attack on Yom Kippur?
On the 45th anniversary of the war, the Israeli government has declassified intelligence information from the state archives suggesting that it could have thwarted the attack. It confirms what was already known, that a day prior to the attack, Israeli intelligence had warned the government about the pending attack. But it also contains a startling […]
‘Pakistan Chronicle’ — Sir Morrice James evaluates Pakistan’s leaders
Morrice James was a British diplomat who served in Pakistan for a dozen years. Sir Morrice was knighted by the Queen in 1962.He was High Commissioner during the 1965 war. His book is brimming with riveting portrayals of Pakistan’s leaders, of whom the most prominent is Field Marshal Ayub Khan who is shown on the […]
Saddam Hussein’s rise to power
On September 22 1980, Saddam Hussain decided to launch a full-scale attack on the newly formed Islamic Republic of Iran. The world took notice. Who was this man? And was he a good guy or a bad guy? Unlike other dictators in the Middle East, Latin American and South Asia, Saddam Hussein was not a […]
‘The Scorpion’s Tail’ — Zahid Hussain’s assessment of Musharraf’s downfall
General Pervez Musharraf seized power on October 12th, 1999 and ruled the country until August 18th, 2008. After a halting start, the commando swung into gear. The economy began to grow. At one point it had looked like Musharraf would pull off the greatest upset in history and make peace with India. But then things […]
Yahya and the 1971 partition
Yahya Khan graduated first in his class from the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun. He went on to teach at the Pakistan Army’s Command and Staff College in Quetta. At 34, he became the army’s youngest brigadier and at 49 its commander-in-chief. When president Ayub Khan faced amass revolt, he asked Yahya, who was […]