Tag: Pak Army
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THE INDESTRUCTIBLE SPIRIT OF AFGHANS
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan A quiet storm is brewing in our front yard that will impact the future configuration of the entire region. The Americans are committed to leave Afghanistan by September 11th, 2021, twenty years after their stormy entry. They will leave a void and a power vacuum, and nature abhors a vacuum.…
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WITH SO MANY WOUNDS WHERE TO APPLY THE BALM
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan Writing at times can be a curse. You have to think, feel and be sensitized to your surroundings. At times one feels overwhelmed by the weight of all the bad around you. I was talking to my friend, Afzal Ghauri about the wisdom of this self-inflicted wound. Why am doing…
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PAKISTAN HAS CHALLENGES BEYOND POLITICS
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan During my university days in the late sixties and early seventies politics was reentering our civil discourse. After ten years under Ayub Khan, Pakistan transitioned from a “Basic Democracy” system to an “Adult Franchise”. The present borders of Pakistan were then known as West Pakistan where Zulifiqar Ali Bhutto…
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PDM IMPLOSION IS A NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan December 2020 was a tumultuous month in Pakistani politics. It started with thunder, threatening a severe storm but ended in a whimper despite intense rumblings. PML(N)’s de-facto leader Maryam loudly proclaimed a “now or never” agenda for PDM leaders. Lahore’s public meeting on December 13th would unravel PTI’s Government with…
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SAUDI BLOWBACK LEADS TO CHANGE OF GUARD
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan Rub al Khali, the Empty Quarter covers a third of the Arabian Peninsula. It hugs the belly of Saudi Arabia in the south linking it to Yemen, Oman and UAE. Our farm was on the edge of Rub al Khali, south of Riyadh close to an oasis town Al Kharj,…
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PAK US RELATIONS IN BIDEN ERA
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan I remember playing weekend cricket in Abbottabad as a kid. One of our playmates used to walk off with the wickets if he got out. A spoiler who could not accept defeat. President Trump reminds me of him. Despite putting up a strong resistance and getting more votes than 2016…
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2 YEARS OF PREP AND 3 TO DEPLOY
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan Pakistan just completed 73 years of existence. We have been through some good, bad and dreadful times. We learn from the past, live in the present and work for the future. There are multiple lessons we can draw on. Without getting bogged down in details we have lived through stalemates,…
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2020 – WILL IK SHED HIS SHACKLES?
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan It is the wedding season in Lahore bringing multiple invites. The cold and fog lends coziness to the atmosphere. A word of caution before you accept, driving in fog/smog combined with long distances is a lethal, time consuming combo. Lahore now is an urban sprawl; fertile agricultural lands that supplied…
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WHO IS THE TRAITOR?
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan It’s in the air, Lahore does it to you. It does not matter wherever you are from, after how long you return to Lahore, the moment you land, you go care free. Your system stops taking stress, you join the Lahoris in their merry ways. Whatever will happen shall happen,…
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GOVERNANCE ON TRIAL
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan In my last post I had written about the “Great Escape” of Nawaz Sharif. I had commented about the emerging convergence between the institutions. I repeat the relevant portion. “For the first time in Pakistan’s 70 plus years of existence all the institutions were pulling in the same direction. They…