Kamal Hyder

My enemy's enemy is my friend

When the Taliban movement took off in the mid 1990’s they had no support from Osama Bin Laden or his outfit al-Qaeda.
The Taliban agenda was introverted and interested only in restoring security and stability within the confines of the Afghan frontiers.

However, al-Qaeda’s agenda was more regional or perhaps even global.

Many Arab Mujahideen, or Holy Warriors as they were known by the US, came from far away lands in North Africa, including Algeria, Morocco, Libya and even Egypt.

The Afghan war provided a window of opportunity for the despotic Arab regimes to send their trouble-makers to fight a war in a distant land, and please Washington in supplying the fighters for America’s holy war against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan.

It was like killing two birds with one stone.

After a heroic struggle, and with help from the Arab fighters, the Russians withdrew from Afghanistan and the country plunged into civil war.

Religious extremists versus liberal extremists

I remember a bumper sticker that read: "We have the best politicians money can buy!"

How appropriate.

People who have lived in Pakistan will tell you that politics and political parties are the domain of the privileged class who have not necessarily made their money the hard - and legal - way.

Flamboyance and loose mouths have always claimed lives in a country where the majority lives below the poverty line and where almost 40 per cent of the people depend on aid and extra help.

If you want to become famous, throw massive parties - and all the better when it is all paid for by the state and from the poor taxpayers' money .

The bigwigs know how to wine and dine, but have no time for the wretched masses whose mouths are still open and in want of their next meal.

If you were worried about the escalating fuel prices you would never hear any complaints from the children of the governors, minions and sycophants who have helped

Geostrategic shift in South Asia

The US president's visit to India has been hailed as a landmark moment, coming amidst much pomp and ceremony.

It could be a defining moment for Barack Obama's future, following the Democrat's humbling experience in midterm elections last week. But one thing is more certain: American foreign policy has the consensus of both the Democrats and the Republicans, no matter who is in power.

India mostly relied on Russian and British military equipment for its forces during the cold war era, something the US was always suspicious of despite its good relations with New Delhi over the years.

But with a new US-Indian strategic partnership, the stage is set for India to make a transition to American military hardware.

Obama may be trying to take credit for the new partnership, but actually it started during the tenure of George W Bush.

US blank cheque to Pakistan can always be cancelled

On the surface it may seem like relations between Pakistan and the US could never have been better, but dig deep and you can see the fissures.

Pakistan's civilian leaders may think they are the epitomes of democracy, but there are suspicions about their own credentials and the tailor-made democracy may not be a good fit for the present lot of self-appointed leaders.

If you ask the critics, and cynics, they will tell you the Obama administration is talking to people they hand picked.

Like Asif Ali Zardari, the president of Pakistan, and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led government!

After General Pervez Musharraf decided to doff off his military uniform and hand over the presidency  to Zardari, (as agreed under a UK- and US-sponsored deal), Musharraf was given a ceremonial guard of honour.

As a soldier, he wanted an honourable way out, and the deal guaranteed that, even though, according to some critics, "his deeds in serving his nation

The winds of change?

Fata, or the federally administered tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghan border, have the same status as Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, which too is a federal territory. As such, any attacks inside this territory are therefore a direct attack on the sovereignty of Pakistan. In a unanimous decision, the country’s parliament condemned and asked for a halt in the US cross border drone (pilotless aircraft) strikes but despite that they have continued. 

Many critics say parliament is a toothless body mired in its own intrigues and power struggles and the government far too dependent on the US to do anything that may jeopardise the country's relations with Washington.

Playing with fire

Muslims across the world are furious that an American pastor would threaten to burn copies of the Quran. If such an act was committed in a Muslim country, the man would soon find himself shredded to pieces by uncontrollable mobs.

It's a pity that even today, as people across the world consider themselves civilised modern citizens of the world, they may be becoming accomplices to an act of "terror" that could cause huge and irreparable harm, cost human lives and lead to the damage to property. 

Beyond that, it would jeopardise America’s future role in the Islamic world. 

As Pakistan drowns, its leaders fight

After a month of extensive flooding in Pakistan's Indus river, the waters are finally pouring into the Arabian Sea.

The fury of the floods has inundated almost one-fifth of the country's agricultural land, destroying crops orchards and sweeping away livestock. In the end, it displaced almost 20 million people and destroyed irrigation systems, schools, hospitals, wiped out entire villages and destroyed more than a thousand bridges.

All in all, the government now estimates the total losses from the devastating floods to be around $43bn.

Cut off from the outside world

Most of Pakistan is a disaster zone these days and while the crisis is still unfolding in the south where the cumulative force of the waters from the River Indus are inundating village after village in the provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan.

However, another crisis is brewing more than 1,000km to the north.

Almost two million people are cut off from the outside world, with entire chunks of the Karakorum highway badly damaged.

In some cases, sections of several kilometres have been wiped out and major bridges swept away.

That is not all, the heavy torrential downpours, the worst in living memory, have caused major landslides wiping out some roadside towns.

The only way to move out of this calamity stricken zone is through footbridges built by local volunteers, and people are taking their lives into their own hands as they cross the rapids.

A disaster Pakistan could ill-afford

On July 29, Pakistan saw a deluge the likes of which the country had not experienced since her independence more than six decades ago. The last time something like this happened was in 1929.

The heavy downpour further swelled rivers in the north, which had already been fed by increased water flow from the snow melts. In short it was a perfect recipe for disaster.

All along the river Swat buildings livestock and fruit orchards laden with fresh peaches were swept away.

In a matter of hours Swat saw devastation that made the bloody conflict between the army and the Swati Taliban in this idyllic valley look like a small affair.

Water, water all around but not a drop to drink

Those people who had electricity during the heavy downpour were able to watch images of people clinging for life against the force of water.

Their only chance of survival was to hold on to barbed wires as others watched helplessly - many not knowing what to do.

One old man raised his finger towards the sky and said, "If the present leadership stayed in power for just one more year the wrath of Allah will be upon us all".

Desperate and strong words, but coming from the depths of a mortal heart.

After years of military rule, the representatives they happily sent into the provincial and national assemblies are now the target of much anger.

Meanwhile, it did not matter what happened on the ground as the president prepared to fly to London and Paris amidst strong criticism from both the people and the political leadership that at the time of such an emergency the president should call off his trip.

Within minutes, the loyal advisor and clos

New lake threatens havoc in Pakistan

A little over two months ago, Al Jazeera's team in Islamabad, the Pakistan capital, was alerted by our contacts in the Northern Areas over a major landslide.

They told us that the village of Attabad, perched dangerously on the slopes of a mountainside, was no more.

The geological survey of Pakistan had warned about the impending disaster after they conducted a survey of the area before the slide took place so the village was evacuated.

But some chose to stay of their own accord and many of them became victims.

Significantly, the slide had blocked the River Hunza, posing a potential threat of submerging entire villages and the highway.

With travel by air subject to weather conditions the only available option was to take the long journey by road through the Karakorum highway, also dubbed by many as the "highway of death" because of frequent landslides.

On arrival, our team found military engineers from the Frontier Works Organisation ta

Kashmir day and Pak-India tensions

Pakistan is marking Kashmir day with countrywide demos to show solidarity with the people of Kashmir. Pakistan believes that there can be no lasting peace with India unless the core issue of Kashmir is settled.

Just yesterday Pakistan’s Military Chief said the country’s army would remain focused on India.

Despite international pressure on  Pakistan to deploy more forces on its Western Border to fight the Taliban the Pakistani army is still eyeball to eyeball with the Indians after India reactivated its forward operating airbases and deployed its forces on the border with Pakistan.

That prompted Pakistan to go for a policy of a quid pro quo by sending her forces to take up defensive positions and reinforce her forward positions to thwart off any Indian attack.

The Indian military Chief has recently talked about a Cold Start option, i.e. to strike first and mobilise later policy.

Eerie quiet in Sararogha

Cutoff from the outside world Sararogha, is a town built on the edge of dry wadis that swell to roaring torrents after the winter rains. For now the land is parched dry.

It's home to the Mehsud tribesmen and was the main headquarters of the Pakistani Taliban.

The mud-built homes amongst wild olive trees were eerily quiet.

Before the military moved in they told local residents to get out.

Now they hope they can return as soon as the local civilian administration is back to work.

As we flew back to Islamabad the military was battling for control of Makeen and beyond. Despite the military gains, there is more fighting to come.

Where did they go?

A few years back, Hakimullah just listened attentively as a back bencher, but years on and he is the new commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan  once headed by Baitullah Mehsud.

Today he and his men have a hefty price on their heads. After the Pakistani military launched a three-pronged attack on South Waziristan, his loyalists - said to be numbering in their thousands - have vanished into the rough terrain and are waiting for winter.

A land that resembles Mars

From the air, Baluchistan looks like a desolate land. Some people have described this terrain as resembling the planet Mars, but on the ground its another story.

In the provincial capital Quetta, where top US officials say Mullah Omar is running his show from, talk is rife that American Predator drones may now start hitting targets inside the city. No one knows when it will happen, and whether their land will or will not become the next battleground in the so called war on terror.

But although people were nervous or worried, for a team of Kebab vendors we met, it was just another day of life.