Militancy in Pakistan and Afghansitan : A Brief History of Causes and Effects

About the Book :

Afghanistan is located at the cross-roads of many civilizations. It is the gateway to India as well as to Central Asia. It shares borders with Pakistan, Iran, and the Central Asian Republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan--a volatile mix of nations in a troubled corner of the world. Historically, the country with the most interest in the region is Russia, which views Central Asia as its back yard, and the nations located within it-- stepping stones-- to the warm waters of the Arabian Sea. In pursuit of that ambition, Russia over the centuries has gradually expanded its realm by conquering the vast lands of the Caucasus and Muslim Central Asia, eventually pausing at the northern borders of the Indian sub-continent and Afghanistan.

This was the beginning of the ``Great Game`` a term described by the nineteenth century British Imperialists to describe the British-Russian struggle to acquire hegemony over the lands of Central Asia and Afghanistan. A century later the ``Game`` goes on. The ``Great Game`` is no longer a sporting event for distant spectators. It has turned deadly and the intensity of violence it produces in the region, now affects the entire globe.

Seven years after Afghanistan`s first-ever Presidential election, the increasingly besieged Government of Hamid Karzai has virtually lost credibility at home and abroad. Al Qaeda has found a new friend in the region-- the Tehrik-e-Taliban of Pakistan (TTP)--which has offered them a safe haven in the tribal belt of the country. The government of Pakistan beset by one political crisis after another and in the aftermath of the killing of Osama Bin Laden at Abbotabad, is on the defensive. Its military and Intelligence agency, the I.S.I, stands humiliated and accused of supporting the perpetrators of terror. As a result, the strategic partnership with the U.S. is almost in tatters. Afghanistan has replaced Kashmir as the main arena of the still unresolved struggle between Pakistan and India.

About Author :

Syed Viqar Salahuddin graduated as a Chemical Engineer from the University of New Mexico in the U.S. in 1967. He has worked in the Oil and Gas sectors with the affiliates of Exxon and Shell in South Asia and the Far East, in various assignments, which included appointments as Chief Executive Officer of an Oil Refinery and a Liquid Petroleum Gas Marketing company. He retired in 2006 after a work tenure extending over 39 years.