My following investigation appears in Australian publication Crikey today: The Pakistani city of Peshawar is situated an hour from Afghanistan. Driving there from Islamabad, the landscape was mostly lush green fields, poor villages and mud houses. After being stopped at five checkpoints along the way, an attempt to intercept foreigners and militants entering the sensitive…
Showing all posts tagged Pakistan
Truly free media means ensuring reporter safety
A serious democracy would try its hardest to protect journalists. Many nations don’t share this goal: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disappointed that a U.N. plan to promote journalist safety and curb impunity in journalist killings was not endorsed during UNESCO’s 28th biennial session held in Paris. The… U.N. Draft Plan of Action on…
Pakistan takes small step in refusing mercenaries access to their territory
It’s right to be skeptical that this will ever happen – Pakistan is notorious for being a nation whose political and military class simply act above the law – but at least it’s being said (via Dawn): Members of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) on Saturday unanimously agreed to include two clauses into…
Why Pakistan and America will never see eye to eye
One of the strongest impressions of my recent visit to Pakistan – meeting journalists, dissidents, writers and intelligence people – was the profound disconnect between Pakistan and the West. The country has suffered due to a range of factors since 9/11 – corrupt government, American bombardment, unaccountable intelligence services, drone attacks, countless murders and economic…
Disaster capitalism in Pakistan
I’ve just visited Pakistan investigating disaster capitalism for a forthcoming book and documentary. Amazing country. Beautiful, troubled, scary, complicated and centre of the world since 9/11 for (mostly) the wrong reasons. And private security is rampant. Stories coming but in the meantime here’s photos; Islamabad/Rawalpindi/Peshawar… and Karachi.
September 11 and Bin Laden; more pieces of the puzzle
Another day and another fascinating insight into Osama Bin Laden post 9/11 and the real role of Pakistan. Lead story in today’s Dawn: Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden moved to Pakistan in 2002, a few months after US started large-scale air strikes on Afghanistan, particularly in the Tora Bora region, during its anti-Taliban war…
“Law of the jungle” for unregulated Pakistani security firms
The explosion of these companies post 9/11, increasingly operating in developing countries with little oversight, shows no sign of abating. Today’s Express Tribune in Pakistan confirms it (though the role of foreign mercenaries is yet another area requiring far more investigation): Private security guard companies continue to operate in a legal black hole, as key…
MSM ignore it but past spin, AfPak war now about face saving for America
Britain’s former ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray cuts through the lies and unloads: UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond’s visit to Tashkent on 28 February was not covered in any UK mainstream media that I can find, which is peculiar, given the media’s obsession with covering anything to do with “Our heroes” in Afghanistan. It was…
Pre 9/11, Pakistan knew a thing or two about private occupation
What a fascinating piece of history, via the Washington Post, and an indication that mercenaries and private contractors have been part of war well before the “war on terror”: As U.S.-funded Afghan jihadists battled the Soviets in the late 1980s, the unassuming American-run bar in this ancient frontier city bulged with gossiping foreigners. Today, with…