Rahimullah Yusufzai is a Peshawar-based senior journalist who covers events in the NWFP, FATA, Balochistan and Afghanistan. His work appears in the Pakistani and international media. He has also contributed chapters to books on the region.
With Pakistan, the US and Afghanistan pointing accusatory fingers at each other as the US withdrawal from Afghanistan nears, how will ‘The Great Game’ in the Af-Pak region end?
Obama’s plans of a phased drawdown of US troops in Afghanistan are unlikely to usher in a period of peace and stability in the country or the region. In fact, negotiations between US and Afghan officials about permanent US military bases seem to indicate otherwise.
Frosty CIA-ISI relations are unlikely to thaw anytime soon, especially after the unilateral raid on bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad and repeated US demands on Pakistan to crack down on the Haqqani Network in North Waziristan.
As collateral damage keeps mounting in America’s often misdirected drone attacks in Waziristan, the Pakistan military may be forced to take action of its own.
Colonel Imam’s death at the hands of the TTP would have one believe he was a spy for the ISI, but the military’s half-hearted efforts to secure his release indicate otherwise.