home > by publication type > podcasts > The Pakistani Taliban's Advance
Email
| Interviewee: | Wendy Chamberlin, President, Middle East Institute |
|---|---|
| Interviewer: | Jayshree Bajoria, Staff Writer |
April 27, 2009
The Pakistani Taliban continues to take their fight closer to the capital city of Islamabad. After taking over the Swat valley in the country's northwest earlier this year and signing a peace deal with the government that imposed sharia law, in April the group expanded its operations into Buner District, just sixty miles from Islamabad. The government recaptured Buner from the militants, but news reports suggested the Taliban was advancing into the neighboring districts of Shangla, Swabi, Malakand and Mardan. The Taliban's growing influence has prompted bleak assessments from U.S. officials in Washington. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the country faces an "existential threat" from Islamic militants (LAT).
Wendy J. Chamberlin, president of the Washington-based Middle East Institute and U.S. ambassador to Pakistan from 2001 to 2002, says though a collapse of the country is not imminent, "the speed and organization the extremist groups are able to secure different districts and towns" is "alarming." She says the fact that these militants are Pakistani also poses a problem for the country's security forces. As this Backgrounder points out, the Pakistani Taliban emerged as a force of its own as a reaction to the Pakistani army's incursions into the tribal areas to hunt down militants.
Chamberlin argues the Pakistani government's policy of appeasement with the militants has failed to contain extremism, and the government and the security forces must respond with strength. One top priority for U.S. policy in the region, she says, should be to invest in "a better trained, better equipped, more professional police" for Pakistan that would be the best defense against the wave of extremism. But the United States lacks a department or agency that could take up the responsibility of Pakistani police training, Chamberlin says.
Weigh in on this issue by emailing CFR.org.
I understand that I may access this podcast solely for my personal use. Any other use of the file and its content, including display, distribution, reproduction, or alteration in any form for any purpose, whether commercial, noncommercial, educational, or promotional, is expressly prohibited without the written permission of the copyright owner, the Council on Foreign Relations. For more information, write webmaster@cfr.org.
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1.212.434.9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.