Pakistan's Drift Into Extremism: Allah, The Army, And America's War On Terror [Hardcover]

Hassan Abbas (Author), Jessica Stern (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2004

This book examines the rise of religious extremism in Pakistan, and analyzes its connections to Pakistan Army's policies and the fluctuating U.S.-Pakistan relations. It includes profiles of leading Pakistani Jihadi groups with details of their origins, development, and capabilities based on interviews with Pakistani intelligence officials, and operators of the militant groups. The book contains new historical materials on Operation Gibraltar (1965 War with India), conspiracy behind General Zia-ul-Haq’s plane crash in 1988, a botched military coup by fundamentalists in army in 1993-4 and lastly about how General Musharraf handled the volatile situation after the 9/11 attacks. Besides General Musharraf’s detailed profile, the book evaluates the India-Pakistan relations vis-à-vis the Kashmir conflict, and Dr. A Q Khan’s nuclear proliferation crisis. The book offers predictions for Pakistan's domestic and regional prospects.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Nuclear, unstable, fundamentalist, Islamic—these adjectives are often used in frightening combination when the media turns to the topic of modern-day Pakistan, a critical but volatile ally in the fight to eradicate al Qaeda. With the sensibilities of both an insider and a scholar, Abbas, a Harvard fellow and former officer in President Pervez Musharraf’s anti-corruption police force, adds an important measure of sophistication to the popular understanding of Pakistan’s dangers and dysfunctions. His detailed analysis works through the country’s complicated history, starting in 1947 with the wrenching partition of British colonial India and ending with today’s impoverished, graft-addled government, which seems closer to falling into a maelstrom of religious radicalism every day. An important thread running through this history is the way American foreign policy—at times misguided or self-serving—magnified Pakistan’s homegrown ills. During the early 1980s, for instance, Pakistan’s pro-Western popular opinion appeared rock solid. "Only indifference, myopia and incompetence of flawless pedigree could have reversed this," Abbas writes. "But Pakistan and the United States would combine to produce the missing ingredient"—a policy of statewide "Islamization" orchestrated by Pakistan’s then leader, General Zia Ul-Haq, and amplified by Washington’s parallel support of the anti-Soviet mujahideen movement. Abbas offers valuable descriptions of today’s most active jihadi movements in Pakistan. More importantly, he shows how the Kashmir conflict, South Asia’s most aggravated political wound, has come to express numerous, overlapping national humiliations—often underestimated by Washington and exploited by Islamabad. "If Pakistan is to be saved from its future," Abbas concludes, "It must start by coming to a sincere accommodation with India over Kashmir."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

...provides valuable insights into the workings of its (Pakistan's) establishment, and should be required reading -- Stephen Philip Cohen, The Brookings Institution

..required reading for anyone hoping to understand the dense thicket of Pakistan's jihadist organizations.. -- Peter Bergen, author of The Holy War Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama Bin Laden

..the book is a truth-telling, undressing heroes, myths, and psychologies that school textbooks in Pakistan lionize. -- Farah Stockman, Boston Globe, November 17, 2004

Abbas, a former officer in Pakistan's police force... has written a highly informative account of his country's radical Islamic groups. -- The Washington Times, December 5, 2004

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 275 pages
• Publisher: M E Sharpe Inc (August 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765614960
• ISBN-13: 978-0765614964
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,254,009 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Hassan Abbas is currently a Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the Asia Society's New York headquarters working on U.S. relations with South and Central Asia. Hassan is also a Senior Advisor at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, after having been a Research Fellow at the Belfer Center from 2005 to August 2009. He is also a non-resident Fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), Michigan, and an Associate of the Pakistan Security Research Unit (PSRU), University of Bradford, in the United Kingdom. He received his Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and an LL.M. in International Law from Nottingham University, United Kingdom, where he was a Britannia Chevening Scholar (1999). Hassan also remained a fellow at the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School (2002-2003) and as a visiting scholar at the Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation (2003-2004).

His research interests are nuclear proliferation, religious extremism in South and Central Asia, and relations between Muslims and the West. In association with the Belfer Center, he is currently working on a project focusing on police reforms and counterinsurgency in Pakistan.

Hassan is a former Pakistani government official who served in the administrations of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (1995-1996) and President Pervez Musharraf (1999-2000). His latest book, Pakistan's Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army and America's War on Terror (M.E. Sharpe) has been on bestseller lists in India and Pakistan and was widely reviewed internationally, including by the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Far Eastern Economic Review, The Hindu, and Dawn. He has also appeared as an analyst on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, Al-Jazeera, and PBS, and as a political commentator on VOA and BBC. His forthcoming book is Letters to Young Muslims on Science, Sovereignty and Sufis. He runs WATANDOST, which is a blog on Pakistan and its neighbors' related affairs.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, Informative and readable, September 25, 2004

By 

Teri "TZH" (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pakistan's Drift Into Extremism: Allah, then Army, and America's War Terror (Paperback)

The book provides insightful information and nuanced analysis that is written beautifully. This is certainly an insider's viewpoint - he is probably Bob Woodward of Pakistan. One may disagree with some of the conclusions of the book about the prospects of Talibanization of Pakistan but there is no doubt the work is authoritative and convincing in its approach. It's a must read for students of South Asian history and for those who want to learn about roots of Islamic radicalism in the region. Profiles of Pakistani extremist groups are very detailed and based on info that I believe is not available elsewhere.

The writer is clearly sympathetic towards minority Muslim groups in Pakistan especially Ahmedis and Shias but provides specific and credible instances of crimes committed against these communities. Also explains how Blasphemy laws are biased against Christian minority. He also severely criticizes Pakistan army for its interference in politics and intelligence agencies for how they groomed and sponsored terrorist groups. In comparison he has been somewhat soft on Pakistani police which he remains associated with as per his bio in the book.

The best part of the book is about General Musharraf and how he is handling Pakistan and the war on terror - he has mixed opinion about Musharraf's capability to make a real difference in the long run. He argues that moderate political parties and revival of real democracy is the only way things can be improved.

Final remark - its an academic book I believe but is written like a thriller - its difficult to put it down once you start reading. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to know how Pakistan is progressing (or digressing) and how intriguing is the history of Pakistan-US relations.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative and a must read, September 30, 2004

By 

Bina (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pakistan's Drift Into Extremism: Allah, then Army, and America's War Terror (Paperback)

Fabulous read. It artfully explains the challenges America face in the war on terror. Almost half of the book is pure historical narrative about Pakistan and India (though beautifully written) and the rest is analysis about the present day crisis in terms of capabilities of terrorist groups, impact of Musharraf's bold decisions to reform and policy prescriptions about how a constructive change is possible. For those interested in Muslim states and society this is a must read.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing and courageous, July 5, 2005

By 

Chris "CM" (Medford, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pakistan's Drift Into Extremism: Allah, then Army, and America's War Terror (Paperback)

If you have to read just one book on Pakistan, this is it. Extremely well written and powerful - I have been teaching South Asian history for a decade but haven't come across a book on the country that is so clear in its perspective, so bold and most importantly written by someone who is not only a scholar but one who witnessed the scene firsthand. Its certainly a important contribution to the field.

I have just one suggestion and one criticism for the writer - he could have given more detailed profiles of the Islamic parties that Pakistan inherited in 1947. Secondly, the book requires a chronology of important political events of Pakistan for the Western readers. But despite these limitations, the book is head and shoulders above other contemporary works on the subject.