Tag: pakistan

Now We See You, Now We Don’t

In early June, 2009, I was in the Shah Mansoor displaced persons camp in Pakistan, listening to one resident detail the carnage which had spurred his and his family’s flight there a mere 15 days earlier.  Their city, Mingora, had come under massive aerial bombardment. He recalled harried efforts to bury corpses found on the … Continue reading “Now We See You, Now We Don’t”

CIA Secrecy on Drone Attacks Data Hides Abuses

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s refusal to share with other agencies even the most basic data on the bombing attacks by remote-controlled unmanned predator drones in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region, combined with recent revelations that CIA operatives have been paying Pakistanis to identify the targets, suggests that managers of the drone attacks programs have been … Continue reading “CIA Secrecy on Drone Attacks Data Hides Abuses”

Down and Out in Shah Mansoor

In Pakistan’s Swabi district, a bumpy road leads to Shah Mansoor, a small village surrounded by farmland. Just outside the village, uniform-size tents are set up in hundreds of rows. The sun bares down on the Shah Mansoor camp which has become a temporary home to thousands of displaced Pakistanis from the Swat area. In … Continue reading “Down and Out in Shah Mansoor”

Visitors and Hosts in Pakistan

In Jayne Anne Phillips’ Lark and Termite, the skies over Korea in 1950 are described in this way: "The planes always come … like planets on rotation. A timed bloodletting, with different excuses." The most recent plane to attack the Pakistani village of Khaisor (according to a Waziristan resident who asked me to withhold his … Continue reading “Visitors and Hosts in Pakistan”

Implementing Af-Pak Strategy Is the Hard Part

With the strategic review for U.S. goals in Afghanistan and Pakistan now complete, the administration of President Barack Obama must shift to the more difficult task of choosing and – even more daunting – implementing policies that seek to quell the militant insurgencies in both countries, says a new report from a think-tank known to … Continue reading “Implementing Af-Pak Strategy Is the Hard Part”