Suchergebnisse

Michael Cox (ed.), Afghanistan: Long War, Forgotten Peace. LSE Press, 2022, 299 pp., ₹3.92 (paperback). ISBN: 978-1-909890-98-5.

Afghanistan remained at the centre stage of regional and global politics owing to its unique geopolitical location in the Cold War period. Afghan jihad of the 1980s impacted not only Afghanistan but also its neighbours particularly Pakistan. In the post-Cold War period, civil war engulfed the war-ravaged and poverty-stricken country which was controlled by the Taliban in 1996. Pakistan recognised the Taliban rule which was ended by the American military might in the wake of 9/11. In the post-Taliban period, the USA-led NATO alliance experimented a Western-style political and economic order in tradition-bound Afghanistan. Paradoxically, after 20 years, different political personalities and presidential terms failed to stabilise the country. Since the Obama years the USA seemed more interested in Indo-Pacific than West Asia. Hence, it opted to withdraw from Afghanistan while doing a deal with the Taliban in Doha in February 2020. The withdrawal policy was operationalised by the Biden Administration. Since 15 August 2021 Afghanistan has been under the Taliban control for the second time, hence, it is termed Taliban 2.0 by this study. Compared to their first regime, the Taliban 2.0 has not been formally recognised by any country so far. Will the Taliban gain regional, if not, international recognition in the foreseeable future? Will Pakistan aid the Taliban in this respect? To what extent intra-Taliban friction impacts bilateral relations? How does Pakistan view Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and vice versa? And, above all, how will Afghanistan and Pakistan treat each other in the coming months? These are some crucial questions that this study attempts to address underpinned by primary and secondary sources.

Though the Chinese government has projected the BRI in economic terms, it has been viewed critically by Australia, Japan, and the U.S. Turkey has, as a geostrategic connector of Asia and Europe, registered its trade interest in the BRI along with projecting the Middle Corridor Initiative (MCI) as a means to realize regional market connectivity and commercial cooperation. In view of the aforesaid, this study aims to explain whether the BRI has factored into Turkey's Asia policy and to what extent the MCI can complement the BRI. Moreover, the study analyzed the existing scale of China-Turkey trade and proposed a set of opportunities offered by both the BRI and the MCI. Nonetheless, the stated opportunities are beset with multiple challenges ranging from transregional instability to socio-economic upheavals. In order to accrue trade dividends in terms of inter-initiative cooperation and connectivity, both China and Turkey will have to play a leading role in developing policy coordination and establishing cultural linkages among the BRI/MCI community. Thus, operationally, Turkey would carry immense influence in Asian affairs economically and strategically.

China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was formally launched in 2015. From the very outset, skeptics raised doubts about its sustainability and meaningfulness for particularly Pakistani society, economy and the state. Nevertheless, the Sharif government in strategic interaction with its Chinese counterpart ably thwarted such controversies and ensured execution of the CPEC projects in different parts of Pakistan. Though within Pakistan, political opposition and certain nationalist political and social forces voiced their related concerns, for instance, to the "route" alignment, the federal and Punjab government led by the Sharifs held ground and accorded priority to sustain the Corridor by engaging local and provincial stakeholders. However, this was not the case with the Khan government whose commerce advisor doubted the negotiated terms and conditions of the CPEC and, therefore, called for its revision to provide a fair deal to the Pakistani side. Why did the Khan government adopt such a policy? How does such a discourse affect China–Pakistan relation in general and CPEC and the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) in particular? What made the Khan government correct its path ultimately? In other words, does change in government impact CPEC negatively? This paper attempts to address these questions empirically.

Mario E. Carranza. 2016. India-Pakistan Nuclear Diplomacy: Constructivism and the Prospects for Nuclear Arms Control and Disarmament in South Asia. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield. 267 pp. ISBN: 978-1-4422-4561-7.Daniel Haines. 2016. Rivers Divided: Indus Basin Waters in the Making of India and Pakistan. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 264 pp. ISBN: 978-0-19064866-4.Hein G. Kiessling. 2016. Faith, Unity, Discipline: The ISI of Pakistan. London: Hurst & Co. 307 pp. ISBN: 978-1-84904-517-9.A. S. Dulat, Asad Durrani and Aditya Sinha. 2018. The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace. New Delhi: HarperCollins Publishers. 344 pp. ISBN: 978-9352779253.

In 2014, Armed Forces & Society published Ali's work, "Contradiction of Concordance Theory: Failure to Understand Military intervention in Pakistan." Shortly thereafter in 2015, Schiff, the author of concordance theory, defended her theory with "Concordance Theory in Pakistan: Response to Zulfiqar Ali." To this, Ali reiterated his position with, "Pakistan, Military Coup and Concordance: Four Objections to Schiff." In response to Ali's ideas, this article argues that Ali's accounts not only lack theoretical and methodological rigor but also suffer from empirical fallacies and factual errors. Thus, he has failed to understand military intervention in Pakistan.

This thesis sought to explain military intervention in Pakistan's politics. Theoretically, the thesis maintained that the existing accounts on Pakistan's civil-military relations (CMR) demote agency, de-emphasize rationality and ignore context. Similar shortcomings were identified in the literature on CMR theory except the actor-oriented work. Thus, the study built its agency model of Pakistan's civil-military relations. Methodologically, the model was married to the method of analytic narrative whereby each of the five coups was given an analytical narrative treatment. In addition, primary and secondary sources were used. Both theoretically and empirically, the study posited that at Partition the politicians assumed Pakistan's principalship. However, the former preferred its own interests; the agents saw to their own. Hence, the rational military opted to shirk in 1958. The coup was instrumental for the military to grow economically. As principal,, however, military agency caused another coup in 1969. However, the state disintegrated in December 1971 and, contextually, the politicians' preference prevailed. The latter failed, as principal, to prefer a larger interest. On its part, the rational military shirked in 1977. The coup, caused by its agency, was instrumental for the military to grow economically. In 1999 the military agency caused another coup to punish the shirking politicians. This further added to the principal's economic strength. Surprisingly, the judiciary shirked while preferring a larger interest in 2007. The military's agency caused another coup. The latter facilitated its economic interests. In sum, the thesis has maintained that coups were a function of military agency. Coups were rational in nature and political in character. Moreover, they benefited the military economically. In addition, the study posits that its hypotheses hold on empirical ground. As regards generalizations of these findings, the present research posits that military intervention in politics can be explained (cross-nationally), by taking military agency and rationality into account. Furthermore, the hypotheses of present research could be tested cross-culturally since their testability shall not compromise the importance of context.

This book analyses problems of governance, development and environment affecting contemporary Pakistan; issues that lie at the centre of federal and provincial policy deliberations, formulation and implementation. The book offers a comprehensive assessment of the policies, or lack thereof. Authors from a variety of disciplines empirically and conceptually evaluate latest developments, events and data regarding law and order, economic under-performance, social intolerance and climate crisis. The book offers varied perspectives on state sovereignty, civil-military relations, spousal violence, rural development, CPEC, nuclear governance and transboundary climate risk. Arguing that the conclusions should be adopted by the social, political and economic stakeholders of Pakistan, as well as the region at the higher level of governability, the book demonstrates that it would both boost national morale and inspire individuals to further investigate to come up with innovative solutions. Examining some of the most pressing and persistent problems Pakistan and South Asia is facing, the book will be of interest to academics working in the fields of Political Science, in particular South Asian Politics, Development Studies and Environmental Studies.