It is precisely Zardari’s ability to do the unthinkable that has consistently confounded both his detractors and admirers and given him the aura of great cunning and cleverness.
An old African proverb—‘Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter’—comes to mind after reading Farhat Taj's combative, if also compelling, and to an extent controversial, description of what is actually happening on ground zero of the War on Terror, i.e. the Pashtun-dominated belt of the Afpak region. Often enough, the dominant narrative of any war drowns the voices of those living through and dying in the conflict. This is precisely what has happened in the Pashtun-populated areas that lie in the eye of the Islamist storm.
Regardless of the spin and gloss that Pakistan puts on the decision to re-open NATO supply lines to Afghanistan, it was in large measure the result of sustained US economic, political and diplomatic pressure.
India will remain a card in the hand of any future Afghan dispensation (whether Taliban or anti-Taliban) to strengthen its negotiating position with Pakistan.
Instead of taking leave of its senses every time someone from across the border coos sweet nothings, India needs to set metrics by which to judge Pakistan and then take steps to reciprocate any positive measures from the other side.
The Indian policy establishment needs to start factoring into its security calculus the fallout of a Talibanised Afghanistan and eventually a Talibanised Pakistan.
India will have to take a call on whether the pivotal position of Iran for reaching Afghanistan and Central Asia outweighs the benefits India derives from its relationship with the West and the Arab world.
At a time of such monumental, even existential, challenges, if all that Pakistan can come up with is a vacuous demagogue like Imran Khan, then its future is pretty bleak.
Asif Zardari: Consummate Cunning or Spineless and Unscrupulous
It is precisely Zardari’s ability to do the unthinkable that has consistently confounded both his detractors and admirers and given him the aura of great cunning and cleverness.