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PESHAWAR: Khalid Aziz, chairman of the Regional Institute of Policy Research & Training (RIPORT), Peshawar is presently visiting Poland on the invitation of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make presentations on a host of regional and security issues. A press release said he would deliver a set of talks during his one-week visitRead More »Khalid Aziz visiting Poland to speak on security issues

Google translator. // ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — When Taliban fighters swept into the Tirah Valley of northern Pakistan last month, grabbing a remote but strategic area that was previously known for criminal activity, Pakistan’s military seized a chance to bloody the insurgents before they dug in. But the counteroffensive took a dismal turn over the past week, asRead More »Taliban Defend New Perch in Northern Pakistan, Gaining Sway as Election Nears

// SOME years ago, a small passenger aircraft in the US crashed because its pilot and engineer started concentrating on neutralising the trimmer that had not settled, although it was not dangerous. Both crew members failed to watch the fuel gauge, and the crash occurred due to lack of fuel, not the malfunctioning trimmer. Today,Read More »Peace talks and Pakistan

// PAKISTAN is witnessing a test of wills between its civil and military elite. It is a play of many parts and a thriller in its own right. It contains within it the subtext of provocation, courtesy Mansoor Ijaz. Pakistan is in the grip of ever-increasing speculation. The question that I ask myself is: whoRead More »Dynamics of the struggle

// THE world is on the cusp of far-reaching changes that will have a significant impact on the security situation in this region. American President Barack Obama has recognised that the US is facing a huge financial crisis and thus needs tohave a defence strategy that is not just cheaper but guards US interests inRead More »The coming change

// THE next phase that the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan are entering is likely to usher in another deadly period of counter-terrorism operations and intense manoeuvring between the US, Russia, China and Iran. This will take place against the backdrop of a mounting economic and security crisis in Pakistan, which is bound to createRead More »Imagining a different future

// THE much-hyped report of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) called for an unconditional apology from the US over the Salala border post attack by Nato forces in the Mohmand Agency in November. It also made the following demands: end to drone strikes, no hot pursuit by US forces inside Pakistan, strong oversightRead More »A relationship in tatters

// THE results of a perception survey carried out with 4,000 respondents in Fata, enumerated in Understanding Fata Volume 5, are illuminating on a number of counts. Some of the results appear to confirm what had been assumed by a number of commentators, but a substantial proportion of the findings indicate that there are someRead More »Conflict & Fata institutions

// THE report Understanding Fata is the outcome of a yearly statistical exercise that documents the perceptions of the region’s people. For the past five years, it has been effectively conducted by the Community Appraisal and Motivation Programme. This year’s report not only covers new ground but provides the trends prevalent amongst the tribesmen’s perceptionsRead More »Changing trends in Fata

// RECENTLY, the Community Appraisal and Motivation Programme (CAMP) issued its annual survey of the perceptions held by the tribesmen of Fata. Understanding FATA — Volume 5 provides a comprehensive insight into the minds of Fata’s population. The credit for creating awareness in this regard about Fata goes to the UK’s Department for International DevelopmentRead More »Insight into the Fata mind