Pakistan
A Hard Country
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A sophisticated look at Pakistan—one of the most overlooked, yet vastly consequential, countries of modern times
“Lieven’s eye for detail, command of subcontinental history and old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting make this in many ways an excellent primer on Pakistan.” —Wall Street Journal
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Daily Telegraph and The Independent
Since Pakistan’s formation as a modern nation state, onlookers have doubted its stability and longevity. Yet despite deep-rooted inequalities, corruption, vulnerability to floods and other ecological disasters, and the dangers brought on by extremist militant movements, Pakistan has managed to endure. It is more than the fragile and failed state so often portrayed by the media—but understanding its success requires looking at the country on its own terms, rather than measuring it by Western standards.
Weaving together history and reportage from Lieven’s extensive travels as a journalist and academic, Pakistan is a magisterial investigation of this highly complex and profoundly misunderstood country.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lieven (Chechnya), who has reported on Pakistan off and on for 20 years, offers a compelling argument for reorienting Western interests (and investments) in its wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Given its enormous population (six times that of Afghanistan), the key role Pakistani intelligence plays in Western efforts against terrorism, the strong ties between Pakistan and Western countries (especially Britain), and the fact that Pakistan's army is one of Asia's strongest (complete with nuclear weapons), Lieven writes, "Pakistan is quite simply far more important to the region, the West and the world than is Afghanistan: a statement which is a matter not of sentiment but of mathematics." His extensive history and cartography of the country comes equipped with solid policy prescriptions for drone attacks to be ceased and for the U.S. to acknowledge how powerfully the bungled invasion of Afghanistan contributed to instability in the region and particularly the growth of the Taliban. Though his language can occasionally be patronizing, Lieven's writing is generally excellent. He wrestles huge amounts of material into a coherent whole, cogently explaining the intricate and interconnected roles played by kinship, regional allegiances, religion, and the military, shedding light on the country "in all its complex patchwork of light and shadow."
