Hassan Abbas
Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Contact:
Website: http://www.watandost.blogspot.com/
November 17, 2007
"The Broken Promises of Military Rule"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Susan Banki and Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"WHEN TWO of Asia's most prominent female politicians are under house arrest at the same time, it's easy to draw parallels. The scary part: comparing the off and on detention of Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto with the longstanding house arrest of Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma makes Pakistan look good. But in both cases, this is no time for complacency on the part of the international community...."
October 24, 2007
"Who Tried to Kill Benazir Bhutto?"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Terrorism Focus, issue 34, volume IV
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"Benazir Bhutto, twice-elected prime minister of Pakistan and the first woman head of a Muslim state, decided to terminate her self-exile and return to Pakistan last week. By all accounts, more than a million people (mostly poor and young) welcomed her enthusiastically in the port city of Karachi on October 18. In the midst of the celebration, the political rally was targeted by a series of suicide attacks killing around 140 people. Bhutto and her top party leaders, however, remained unhurt.
Who would have been the potential beneficiary of Bhutto's elimination?"
United States Congress
October 1, 2007
"Should the United States Continue Supporting Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf?"
Presentation
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Moeed Yusuf
Pakistan's October 6 presidential elections present a crossroads, with the possibilities of genuine democratic reform or continued military dominance both in sight.
AP Photo
September 27, 2007
"Increasing Talibanization in Pakistan's Seven Tribal Agencies"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Terrorism Monitor, issue 18, volume V
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"The government of President Pervez Musharraf is facing policy failure in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. Taliban forces and their sympathizers are becoming entrenched in the region and are aggressively expanding their influence and operations (especially in Tank, Dera Ismail Khan and Swat Valley in the North-West Frontier Province). A lethal combination of Musharraf's political predicament and declining public support, a significant rise in suicide attacks targeting the army and the reluctance of soldiers deputed in the area to engage tribal gangs militarily further exacerbates this impasse...."
Summer 2007
Pakistan: Instability Raises Nuclear Security Concerns
Summary Report, Oxford Analytica
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Managing the Atom Fellow Hassan Abbas provides analysis of Pakistan’s nuclear command and control systems and the security of its nuclear program in the aftermath of the recent test-firing of a nuclear-capable missile and terrorist attack.
July 19, 2007
"The Road to Lal Masjid and its Aftermath"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Terrorism Monitor, issue 14, volume V
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"It is clear that most Pakistanis wanted Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) leader Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi to be held accountable for his vigilantism and for trying to enforce his extremist version of Islam on society. The public's views have changed, however, now that it has become obvious that the government used indiscriminate force during the operation and since its claims about the presence of foreign militants inside the mosque complex have not been independently verified."
July 10, 2007
"Pakistani Forces Storm Red Mosque, Kill Cleric"
Presentation
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Samina Ahmed, Former Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, 1998-2002
Hassan Abbas and Samina Ahmed provided the analysis following the news story.
July/August 2007
"The Khan Job"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, issue 4, volume 63
By Tom Bielefeld, Associate, Project on Managing the Atom and Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Tom Bielefeld and Hassan Abbas review Der Physiker der Mullahs (The Mullah's Physicist), a film by Egmont R. Koch, broadcast on German Public Television (WDR) on February 22, 2007.
June 26, 2007
"NATO Strikes Taliban Militants in Pakistani Territory"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Terrorism Focus, issue 20, volume IV
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
The covert understanding between the Pakistani government and NATO/ISAF in Afghanistan regarding direct U.S. military action in Pakistan's tribal areas is hardly a secret anymore.
June 11, 2007
"Musharraf's Party is Over"
Op-Ed, National Interest
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
The hundreds of thousands of ordinary Pakistanis euphorically chanting in the streets in support of Iftikhar Chaudhry, the suspended chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, demonstrate that Pakistan has outgrown Pervez Musharraf’s transitional leadership....
