Afrah Jamal

Published Global Village Space / Nov 2017? The upgraded version of Afghan policy released in August 2017 was followed by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to the region in October. The stopover was unannounced - the location classified and the meeting lasted 2 hours. There was confusion whether it was held at Kabul in some government office or Bagram airbase in a fortified bunker. The state of insecurity may be behind the subterfuge. Soon after the Taliban attacked an army base killing many Afghan soldiers justifying the paranoia. There had been six attacks the week before. More were to follow. The Taliban observe the surges and withdrawals - and adapt, while upping the ante . Nothing changes. Their confidence is unnerving given Kabul’s fortunes are changing for the better at least on the surface and the state seeks a new role for a war ravaged nation. Afghanistan is now a member of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Additional firepower and military mig...

Published Global Affairs / Dec 2017? The longest war is going according to plan; but whose plan exactly? Not Washington - bogged down in a never-ending nightmare. Or Kabul - besieged and battered, barely holding its head above water. Not Pakistan, a frontline state suffering blowback and living under the weight of America’s expectations - and uncalled for accusations. The dramatic shifts in the geostrategic dynamics are not reflected in Washington’s stance towards Islamabad nor are they inclined towards the multiplayer great game unfolding in the backdrop with Russians, Iranians, Taliban, Indians, Chinese, ISIS and its Coalition forces. Mission Rebuild Afghanistan In the backdrop are nations used as pawns to keep Cold War allies or emergent threats in check. On the side are non-state actors wielded as weapons to thwart ambitions and counter bigger threats like ISIS. And at the centre is a strategy that offers a patchwork quilt of something old, something new, something borrow...

Published in Global Village Space / July 2017 Implications of a Modi – Trump style ‘meet and greet’ As Mr. Modi descended upon Washington, armed with Kashmiri shawls, tea, honey, and personalized invites for the first family to visit India, the U.S. media hastened to find parallels between the two nations. Democracies both (biggest / oldest), led by men with a degree of social-media savvy, men indifferent to public opinion and sporting unique greeting styles - hugs from Modi, handshakes from Trump. Seen from afar, the show stopping performance yielded significant results, strengthened defense cooperation and secured 22 shiny new Guardian drones. Commentators noted that contentious issues like H1-B work visas and climate change etc were reportedly left out in the cold while detractors brooded over the symbolism that signaled the arrival of a new world order. As with all these visits, Pakistan wasn’t far from India’s thoughts and opinion makers now wonder at the extent Modi can s...

Published by Global Affairs / Dec 2016 Written 2 days after the US Elections. Should've been published when it still had relevance . To many he will represent the face of the Dark Side. The tragic contamination of the American Dream, a malware in the code; the alternate ending that never made the cut. Post Election America has currently misplaced the veneer of respectability needed to conduct business and assert its authority. And without these props, its least favorable attributes could become representative of its core values. It is a twist; but not entirely unexpected. For there were undercurrents of inherent racism, growing paranoia, fear of the unknown already in play – fears that came from a very real place. And now those fears have assumed a tangible form. What does this mean for the rest? The world seemed to take it personally. Even nations under the yoke of their own despots, puppets and monarchs; that had squandered human rights, relegated women and minorities...

First Published in SHE Magazine / Dec 2012 The other day cricketer turned politician Imran Khan was unceremoniously hauled off a plane and detained for questioning in Toronto over his anti drone stance . Khan does not like drones. The Taliban do not care for them either. Ordinary Pakistanis are passionate about sovereignty, and conflicted about how to handle the ‘safe haven’ situation, which leaves them reaching for the pitcher of outrage after every violation. The past six years has seen a noticeable spike in drone strikes followed by rising temperatures on the ground. The people on ‘ground zero’ interestingly do not necessarily share these sentiments and might even go along with the idea of using targeted strikes to eliminate a common enemy. More on these people can be found in Irfan Husain’s excellent book Fatal Faultlines – Pakistan, Islam & the West . WikiLeaks cables place the State on the scene when covert wars became an active part of the scenery. Pakistan i...

First Published by Daily Times / Oct 06, 2012 Authors: Mark Owen & Kevin Maurer Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal Published under the Title: Signed, SEAL(ed) and Delivered The men who paid Pakistan a hurried visit in the dead of the night typically do not leave calling cards. Or talk shop with strangers. And they are expected to shun the limelight. One broke the commandment recently. As a member of the SEAL Team 6 — Naval Special Warfare Development Group or DEVGRU, Mark Owen (not his real name) had been in the downed ‘helo’ (helicopter) — the one Pakistanis discovered lying in their backyard. His book provides a valuable timeline of events leading up to ‘Operation Neptune Spear’ in Abbottabad (or ‘Abababa’ as they insist on calling it), cutting through the official haze. With 13 consecutive combat deployments to his credit, the author paints a group portrait of America’s finest that had been handpicked for the job in an attempt to overturn the media-created hype. He calmly re...

PUBLISHED IN THE POST MAY 24 ,2007 Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal How a little known Middle Eastern fighter pilot came to wield such influence over Presidents, Prime Ministers and Senior Government Officials? Intrigues are not always within the confines of the palace even if the instigator happens to be a royal. Bandar Bin Sultan answered his calling of a fighter pilot, performed diplomatic duties as a Prince and crossed the threshold to a world of Intrigue when required, a world where the East and West unite when bound by common interests. William Simpson’s biographical account of Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, son of the Saudi Defence Minister, revisits well known historical events, directing attention towards the unacknowledged facts of history and hitherto unseen involvement of a Prince in matters of national (Saudi) interest and international significance. Though a Prince, Bandar Sultans beginnings were anything but ‘Princely’ but the controversy shrouding his birth could not bar ...