[caption id="attachment_2158" align="alignright" width="640"] Haqqani Group of Taliban[/caption] Asif Haroon Raja Haqqani Network (HN) under Sirajuddin Haqqani based in North Waziristan (NW) was declared the most dangerous outfit when it hit military targets in Kabul several times with impunity on September 13, 2011. Murder of Burhanuddin Rabbani on September 20, 2011 blocked the peace effort. These attacks ...

Asif Haroon Raja No sooner Barack Obama sat in the seat of president he started to growl at Pakistan. He stated that US forces would carry out unilateral action inside FATA whenever actionable intelligence was available. Propaganda war was stepped up to malign Pakistan’s institutions and drone war accelerated to fuel terrorism. Besides the US media and think tanks, every second US official used foul languag ...

By Imran Malik In a blatant display of overwhelming power and clout, the US forced Pakistan’s hand in the nerve wrecking and vital battle of wits for the Nato supply routes and by implication the future of its Afghan campaign. The US pressure tactics included a double pincer movement of sorts, comprising a strategic and an economic prong targeting Pakistan’s obvious vulnerabilities. The [caption id="attachm ...

Asif Haroon Raja  The might of US military-NATO got bogged down in the swamp of Afghanistan, rather than making corrections at its end, Pentagon and CIA made Pakistan a scapegoat and blamed it for all their faults. Finding no explanation to offer for their dismal performance despite enjoying all the strategic and technical advantages, the US after playing up extremist threat to the integrity of Pakistan and ...

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai Washington, D.C. Tuesday, July 10, 2012 [caption id="attachment_2056" align="alignright" width="212"] KashmirI Lake[/caption] Saying goodbye is sometimes easy but sometimes a very difficult thing to do, particularly when I am saying goodbye, though temporarily, to freedom and to a mission that I have given my life to.  But the real goodbye is not the words that I have formed in my head b ...

Asif Haroon Raja Obama worries about Pakistan’s disintegration and safety ofits nuclear warheads. In reality he and his team are least concerned aboutPakistan’s fragmentation since this has been among the many goals Washingtonhad perceived at the time of invading Afghanistan. Real concern is the nukesand not the fate of Pakistan. The US has already started seeing Pakistan as afailing state at the brink of c ...

  Asif Haroon Raja The US obsession for North Waziristan (NW) started in early2010. It was described as the major problem area for the ISAF where supposedly theentire leadership of al-Qaeda including Osama bin Laden (OBL) was headquarteredand involved in cross border terrorism. After the emasculation of al-Qaeda anddeath of OBL, threat perception suddenly shifted towards Haqqani Network (HN).It was all ...

    By Sajjad Shaukat Famous political thinkers agree that a number of internal factors, system of government, geographical location, economic output etc. play a key role in formulating the foreign policy of a country, while national interest has primary importance. But this thesis is quite opposite to Pakistan’s political and religious parties which have always criticised the external policy of the country ...