Background Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, was assassinated by a longtime associate on July 12th while entertaining guests at his home. The Taliban claimed responsibility, stating that the associate, Sardar Muhammad, was a sleeper agent. Analysis At first glance, this was a typical Taliban assassination against an official in the U.S.-backed [...]

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In the wake of the successful operation to kill Osama bin Laden, questions have emerged with respect to Pakistan’s role in the affair. Did Pakistan have advance knowledge of the raid? If it didn’t, did it at least detect the incursion? Many have hypothesized that Pakistan’s role has been understated to shield the Pakistani government [...]

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President Obama and his staff watch the historic operation against Osama Bin Laden unfold – live.

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Editor’s Note:  I’ve been sitting on this post for a few weeks now and finally have a chance to post it.  Fortunately for me, questions still linger about Pakistan’s motivations behind the recent spate of Taliban arrests. SUMMARY The first two months of 2010 have brought about a sea change on the ground in Afghanistan [...]

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Summary Today, Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, chairmen of Pakistan’s two largest parties agreed in principle to impeach President Pervez Musharraf. The agreement, however, is contingent on all coalition partners supporting the move. Just as there has been little-to-no “progress” on the reinstatement of the justices Musharraf sacked, it is just as unlikely that Musharraf [...]

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On July 26th, it was announced that Prime Minister Gilani’s cabinet had taken the decision to place the ISI under the complete control of the Interior Ministry. As our sources reported, uproar ensued in the military establishment and less than 24 hours later, the decision was reversed. Zardari’s Miscalculation It’s an open secret that Benazir [...]

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On the eve of his first visit to the United States, Prime Minister Yousaf Gilani and his cabinet made the decision to place Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, the ISI, under the jurisdiction of the the Interior Ministry alongside the Intelligence Bureau. As a result, the Interior Ministry, headed by Rehman Malik, will have administrative, financial [...]

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The Intel Insider Brief sources report that Pakistani intelligence officials have recently been engaged in a spate of closed-door meetings. The topic of discussion? The ouster of Asif Ali Zardari and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) from power and the engineered return of Nawaz Sharif. The Why The news in and of itself should not [...]

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Around Christmas, sources had reported that Pakistani intelligence had indications that the violence afflicting the rest of the country — Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi — was making its way to Lahore. Today, it did. A suicide bomber detonated himself amidst a 70-member police contingent, minutes before a weekly lawyer’s protest in front of the Lahore [...]

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We’d like to thank all our readers for making this blog as successful as it is. Your readership and support has earned the Insider Brief exposure and recognition in multiple venues – The News: Reuters With Gen. Ashfaq Kayani’s ascendancy to the role of Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Reuters published an article on Nov. [...]

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President Pervez Musharraf has been sworn in for another 5-year term as president of Pakistan — out of uniform. Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has taken command of Pakistan’s all-powerful army. Emergency rule is to end on December 16th. Elections will be held on January 8th. Anti-insurgency operations continue full swing in Swat. In short: there’s [...]

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WHAT’S NEXT FOR KAYANI? As I reported would happen, Maj. Gen. Nadeem Taj was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and named DG ISI, replacing Lt. Gen. Ashfaq Kayani (alt spelling: Ashfaq Kiyani) as the head of Pakistan’s premier intelligence service. Speculation in the media over Kayani’s future role is now hotter than ever, [...]

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A NEW SPYMASTER Highly placed sources report that Maj. Gen. Nadeem Taj, currently the Commandant of the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA), will be named the new ISI chief in the coming days, replacing Lt. Gen. Ashfaq Kayani. Maj. Gen. Taj is a trustworthy ally of Pres. Gen. Musharraf’s and has been considered by many to [...]

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