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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On August 25th, an INSIDER BRIEF letter to the editor was published in the Wall Street Journal in response to Ashley Tellis’ op-ed, “Stop the Sino-Pak Nuclear Pact.“  In his op-ed, Tellis argues that Washington should oppose the sale of Chinese nuclear reactors to Pakistan.  Our letter is copied below (the bracketed text was edited [...]

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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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For the last several months, we’ve witnessed Pakistan tread down the path of implosion. The country finds itself in a recession and is relying once again on the IMF for budgetary support. The military campaign in South Waziristan may have merely displaced militants who continue to carry out retaliatory bombings and assassinations in Pakistan proper. [...]

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Summary On September 23rd, Reuters reported that three intelligence officials confirmed that Pakistani troops and tribesman shot down a suspected US military unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over South Waziristan. If true, Pakistan’s fast developing UAV industry could find itself bolstered with the latest American UAV technology. Analysis Viewed in the context of multiplying reports covering [...]

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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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We at the Insider Brief would like to thank all of our readers for your patience during our brief hiatus. To make up for our absence, we’ll be introducing some new features and guest contributors in the coming weeks. In the meanwhile, expect some new posts as we attempt to make sense of the events [...]

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A military helicopter went down in South Waziristan today. All eight on board were killed including Major General Javed Sultan, the recently promoted commanding officer of Kohat garrison as well as two brigadiers. The official explanation from Islamabad is that the crash was due to “technical reasons.” However, sources report that the helicopter was one [...]

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Late Saturday night during a Democratic Party debate, presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton stated that if elected president, she would propose joint US-British oversight of Pakistani nuclear weapons. Within hours, media outlets from New Hampshire to New Delhi had all picked up on the story, with headlines screaming, “Clinton Proposes Oversight of Pak Nukes.” MISSION [...]

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Informed individuals are reporting that the Bush administration will be quietly providing President Pervez Musharraf a list of minimum deliverables for him to accomplish in order to receive Washington’s stamp of approval for January’s general elections. The list of requirements — as to what they are we can’t quite say — are being provided discreetly [...]

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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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Casuistic Crisis The world is fixated on the “crisis” in Pakistan spawned by Pres. Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s imposition of emergency rule. The media is bombarding us with news that the regime is unstable, the nation is “plunging into chaos” and that the country’s nuclear weapons are at risk — frankly, nothing could be further from [...]

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Apologies to all IB readers for my undue absence this week. A host of commitments, primarily work, have kept me away. I’ve also found that much of what’s been creating a buzz in the media hasn’t been that signficant in terms of impact (e.g. Imran Khan’s arrest). Most events, though interesting, will not significantly alter [...]

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