Hints and tips:
...Hamid Gul, a former ISI director-general, once joked that history would note that “the ISI defeated America in Afghanistan, with America’s help”....
...Keeping Hamid Karzai International airport open as a secure gateway is crucial if embassies and humanitarian aid organisations are to remain in Afghanistan....
...This January, an Indian film about the late Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto, an icon among readers in both countries, was banned by the Pakistani censor board....
...However, Hasan Askari Rizvi, an expert on Pakistan’s army, said the offer risked being seen by the Taliban as a sign of weakness....
...Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s president, has branded as “shocking” WikiLeak’s release of files disclosing the names of Afghans who worked with US forces, saying their publication could put lives at risk....
...The ISI’s clout remains intact,” says Hasan Askari Rizvi, a military and security scholar....
...The madness of the situation was wonderfully satirised by the Pakistani Urdu writer, Saadat Hasan Manto, in his short story “Toba Tek Singh”, which tells of a fictional plan by India and Pakistan to divide...
...“Pakistan can indeed be part of the solution but many people also consider it as part of the problem,” says Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a respected scholar on the country’s political affairs....
...Mohsin Hamid is a novelist....
...Some analysts point out that meetings this week between Mr Holbrooke and Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, and Asif Ali Zardari, his Pakistani counterpart, are in both cases with interlocutors...
...“This is an extremely destabilising development for the future of Pakistan,” warned Hasan Askari Rizvi, a commentator on security affairs....
...In an interview with the Financial Times on Thursday, Mr Hamid said: “This [OGDC offer] will give us access to international capital markets....
...Hamid Abdel Latif, a sheikh of the Al Bu Hasan tribe, attended a seminar on Wednesday at Basra University, where professors explained the electoral process....
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