Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Pakistan

It is becoming clearer that the bad guys in Pakistan are about to make a massive effort to destabilize the country, perhaps even send it over the cliff. So there is a lot of soul-searching inside the administration about Pakistan and whether or not the situation there allows us an opportunity to do more work in the tribal areas, not only to prevent this attempt, but to go after the bad guys with more alacrity. Note that now there is a movement of refugees from Pakistan into Afghanistan, which now seems safer than Pakistan. Are the vast majority of Pakistanis moderate, and may they be counted on in this time of crisis? I hope so.

Discussions - 5 Comments

Peter, someone should link to Stanley Kurtz's article on these matters in the newest CRB.

Here or there is this somewhat shorter and reprinted in the WSJ.

Thanks, Kate.
The first two chapters of David Pryce-Jones' The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs also treat of Arab Muslim "tribal society" and its ethos of "shame and honor." Probably overwrought, they still are worth reading. In the for what it's worth department, I would characterize Kurtz's framework for analyzing the Middle and South Eastern Muslim world as a combination of Bernard Lewis and D P-J.

I was thinking while on my walk (it is an amazing 60 degrees in Ohio today) that this by Angelo Codevilla is also good, especially as it pertains to the CIA which referred to in Peter Schramm's first link.

Your characterization of the Kurtz article is probably correct. It read as quite right to me and much of my reading on the topic is from Lewis and Pryce-Jones.

Am I the only one who squirms at the idea of the CIA in Pakistan? David Tucker's book is very good on the topic of special ops in that kind of situation, and it is hard to believe we do not have some presence of that sort established, well established, in Pakistan.

I bet Iran will probably be trying to become more involved against us in Pakistan soon... Yet another place for them to stick their noses to take advantage of our interventionism and do more to harm Americans.

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