Sunjeev Bery

Tag: Asif Zardari

  • Pakistan Foreign Minister Mixes Criticism and Praise of US Foreign Policy

    The HKS Citizen (Harvard Kennedy School) October 26, 2010 By Sanjeev Bery Alternating between criticism and praise, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi spoke about US-Pakistan relations at the Harvard Kennedy School on Monday, October 18th.  Qureshi was at HKS on the eve of a US-Pakistan strategic dialogue with senior US officials in Washington DC.…

  • Misreading “Anti-Americanism” in Pakistan

    The latest news on US-Pakistan relations shouldn’t surprise anyone. According to the Associated Press, former Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf used billions of dollars in US military aid for everything but the paymasters’ intended purpose: fighting Taliban militias. None of this news, however, is likely to generate much Pakistani sympathy for American taxpayers. What American officials…

  • “Pakistanis Debate Their Future On Facebook”

    Sanjeev Bery, The Huffington Post, 05/18/09 As the Pakistani military rains fire down upon villagers and Taliban alike, Pakistanis and members of the diaspora are engaged in numerous online debates about the future of their country. In some cases, they are offering perspectives that the rest of us should listen to.

  • “Today we are all Pashtuns”

    “I learnt about a family who had to leave child with polio behind and take all the other healthier children with them. Similarly, there are people who left the elderly behind as they could not endure the travel.” The following piece landed in my inbox via the yahoo group for the Pakistani American Community of…

  • Failed State Fetish, Part II

    “The notion of Pakistan as a “failed state” has roots far deeper than the last few years; it was first deemed to have “failed” in the early 1960s, and this framework has dominated discussion of Pakistan in America from the days of the Cold War to the War on Terror.“ From Manan Ahmed‘s “Legends of…

  • “U.S. must help Pakistan provide for its people”

    Special to The Seattle Times By Ambreen Ali THE U.S. media have become obsessed with Pakistan of late, fueling a sense of panic that we must do something quickly to save Pakistan from crumbling. True, violent tragedies seem to occur in Pakistan regularly, overtaking headlines before the prior ones register. But the most important policy…

  • Reacting: William Bradley on Huffington Post

    I couldn’t help but react to William Bradley’s April 30th Huffington Post column on Afghanistan and Pakistan.  It had some interesting points, but it was also filled with vaguely orientalist notions of Pakistani security issues. There were the noble generals, the scary ISI, and the invisible 170 million civilians who would soon fall to a…

  • Failed State Fetish

    The news is certainly troubling.  Taliban fighters get a “peace” treaty from the national Pakistani government, and then expand from Swat to neighboring Buner.  A vast national military seems unable or unwilling to respond, and everyone scratches their heads wondering what is next. But does this really mean that Pakistan is on the verge of…

  • With a friend like this, who needs democracy?

    A repost of my comment at Sepia Mutiny and Chapati Mystery: On the intersection of U.S. policy and Pakistani politics, I was particularly surprised to read this link off a Pakistani news twitter feed: Obama calls Zardari, discusses mutual cooperation Pakistan News.Net / Friday 27th March, 2009 (ANI) Islamabad, Mar. 27 : US President Barack…

  • A Letter to an Editor

    Response to “Pakistan in Turmoil,” March 15, 2009, by Barbara Crossette in The Nation Ms. Crossette’s article is strong on explaining political rivalries, but misses an opportunity to reveal the new gains of Pakistani civil society.