Dawn.com: YORK: A Pakistani journalist and best-selling author cautions that Pakistan is heading towards anarchy in his new book that offers solutions for his country’s frayed ties with the United States and how US peace talks with the Taliban is crucial in its exit strategy from Afghanistan.
The writer, Ahmed Rashid, who frequents the dinner tables of the world’s top leaders offering advice, gives a dire assessment of the region he has reported on for more than 30 years in “Pakistan On The Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan” released in the United States this week.
In his fifth book the Lahore-based prize-winning journalist says he fears Pakistan is on the verge of a meltdown and blames both Pakistan and the Obama administration for the deterioration in their ties due to a series of destabilising incidents, including the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Pakistan’s escalating problems are rooted in its reliance on US aid, its complex politics, the government’s lack of control over both its military and intelligence service and its failure to protect minorities and secure regions controlled by the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups, the book maintains.
That spells more trouble for Washington if such groups gain further control in a nuclear-armed country where the military now largely controls foreign and security policies and has taken the lead in relations with the United States, he said.
This sounds like the chickens are coming home to roost!