In The Wilson Quarterly, Zahid Hussain opines that Pakistan’s remote and poorly understood tribal region has emerged as key to the future of both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
As the United States struggles to broker an endgame to the decade-old war in Afghanistan, an arid mountain region in northwestern Pakistan not much larger than Vermont has emerged as the key to the beleaguered Afghan state’s future - and perhaps Pakistan’s as well...
Also in TWQ, Michael Kugelman responds to Hussain in what he, or TWQ headline editors, deem as “The Whole Truth “
… Yet Pakistan’s cities also suffer from grinding poverty, high unemployment, and natural resource constraints. With Pakistan urbanizing rapidly, these problems will likely worsen. Such conditions, coupled with the strong urban influence of deeply conservative Islamic ideologies, are helping fuel the extremism now afflicting Pakistan’s cities…
Comments
The first article states Al Queda is gaining strength. Young, urban, educated Pakistanis are flocking to FATA to join up. But the rift between Pakistan and the US must be mended or things won't improve.
The second article says we have to redirect our aid money away from the borders to the cities in order to, among other things, fund "clean water, electricity, and sanitation." They will like us better I guess if we do that. I was formerly under the impression that any place pretending to be an actual country would attend to its own water, power and sewage.
The first article is a superficial overview of the situation on the border and in Pakistan ending with an expression of hope that things will improve. The second article is an articulation of the belief that if we just give them more money they will finally like us.
I am not impressed with the either article, at all. The most valuable thing written was a comment appended to the first article by someone who says he is a resident of South Waziristan. He describes a murderous tyranny established and maintained by the Taliban/ISI.
South Asian societies tend to deal with social inequalities much better than their western counterparts because of a long history with such deprivation. The present increase in extremism is driven as much by the "Establishment" as socioeconomic causes to divert the energies of the population towards USA as the external boogeyman as much as is possible.