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// WHEN President Barack Obama took office he commissioned an inter-agency review of US policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan. The recommendations emerging from this review were issued in a white paper. The paper reflected opinions held by disparate groups in the highly saturated think-tank world of Washington, yet it lacked consistency and proposed contradictory policies,Read More »Obama’s AfPak dilemma on Wednesday, 04 Nov, 2009

// Khalid Aziz is a former civil servant who has spent more than 30 years in various departments under the federal and provincial governments. He headed the NWFP Planning, Environment & Development Department for six years and played a major role in transforming the province. He also remained the NWFP chief secretary. After the governmentRead More »Interview on 10th Oct, 2009

// Speech delivered by Khalid Aziz at the conference, How cooperation between Afghanistan, India & Pakistan can help in the stabilization of the region? I want to thank the DPG for giving me an opportunity to visit India once again. I also want to thank them for affording me the opportunity of having interaction withRead More »Afghanistan-India-Pakistan Trilateral Meeting in New Delhi 6th to 8th June, 2009

// The interview has been uploaded in three parts to YouTube and can be seen by placing the links below into the browser: Part 1: Part 2:   Part: 3:

// The conduct of multiple military operations by the Pakistani forces in NWFP and Fata coincides with the planned surge of US troops in southern Afghanistan. The induction of fresh US forces on Pakistan's Baluchistan border generates its own dynamics. The surge will push the Pashtun living in the Baloch border areas inwards towards QuettaRead More »The implication of operations in NWFP and FATA

// Introduction Militants in Fata and NWFP remain fragmented and solutions to the problems posed by insurgents ultimately require political handling, which in turn depends on legitimate and capable civilian and military state institutions that provide services and governance to establish empowered communities able to deny space to militants. The al Qaeda and the TalibanRead More »Approaches for dealing with insurgency in Fata is development the answer?

// Introduction       Pakistan faces several challenges to its national security centred on its policies in FATA and NWFP as well as its strategic partnership with the United States. This paper explores the threat to national security as a result of this alliance and suggests certain options for Pakistan. The focus of the paper willRead More »Pakistan’s Strategic Options and Choices

// Introduction First Afghanistan and now Pakistan are the victims of fragmentation brought on by entities who at one time or another have been given space to germinate. Now the tree has assumed such an over powering shade that it is preventing the growth of peace and happiness for more than a billion and halfRead More »Prospects of Peace and Security in Afghanistan and Pakistan

// What was projected to occur within the next few weeks in my last article has come to pass already; the drones for the first time attacked a target inside the district of Bannu and there are reports of more flights now over Kohat. Soon Robocop (as I call the drones) will be seen overRead More »Aligning regional security policies

// After Barack Obama's victory in the US presidential elections many people wonder whether there will be a reduction of tension in the region. The policies of great powers are grounded in these countries' particular geo-strategic compulsions. Such geo-strategic determinants remain permanent and do not shift. Mr Obama may have won an election, but heRead More »US, FATA and Afghanistan