GOVERNANCE
AP Photo
June 6, 2011
"The Future of al-Qaeda"
Op-Ed, Foreign Policy
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Tariq Parvez
"[W]hether al-Qaeda's ideology resonates with segments of the world's Muslim populations will have a critical bearing on the organization's ultimate fate. Recent political developments in Egypt, Tunisia and across the Middle East have exposed the bankruptcy of al-Qaeda's ideas as a means of challenging dictatorships in Muslim countries....Much will depend in the coming months and years on the extent to which the changes heralded by the "Arab Spring" improve the lot of common Arabs in terms of governance and economic prospects."
AP Photo
May 17, 2011
"Don't Give Up on Pakistan"
Op-Ed, CNN.com
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"The process of democratization must continue, as there is no other way to expand civilian control over all institutions of the state. Pakistan has been ruled by generals for half its history — another military takeover would set the country back yet again."
AP Photo
September 2010
"Shiism and Sectarian Conflict in Pakistan: Identity Politics, Iranian Influence, and Tit-for-Tat Violence"
Occasional Paper
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"Western analysts can no longer afford to ignore the growing potential for sectarian violence in Pakistan, for uncontrolled sectarian violence can destabilize Pakistan and the region at large. Internally, sectarian groups prefer to conduct their attacks in the Punjab, the center of gravity of the country's military and political elite. Attacks against Pakistan's Shia are also bound to have regional implications, since they can further stoke tensions between Pakistan and its neighbor Iran, a Shia-majority state."
AP Photo
February 2011
Reforming Pakistan's Police and Law Enforcement Infrastructure: Is It Too Flawed to Fix?
Report
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
An effective police force is critical to countering insurgency. In Pakistan, an understaffed and underequipped police force is increasingly called on to manage rising insecurity and militant violence. This report evaluates the obstacles to upgrading the existing police system and recommends traditional and innovative reform options, including major restructuring of the total civilian law enforcement infrastructure, without which the police force cannot be effectively improved.
AP Photo
January 5, 2011
"A Bad Beginning for Pakistan in 2011"
Op-Ed, Asia Society
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"...[T]he killer was a member of the Elite Police—a unit with special training for counterterrorism operations. After the gruesome act, he handed himself over to police and proudly claimed that he did the right thing. This shows pathetic security arrangements and poor management. Some fanatics have already created a Facebook profile of the killer—an indication of divisions within society."
AP Photo
2010
Militancy in Pakistan's Borderlands: Implications for the Nation and for Afghan Policy
Report
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
This paper provides a critical perspective on past Pakistani policy toward jihadist militant groups, the growth of their influence in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Kyber Pukhtunkhwa Province (KPP), and what steps need to be taken in order to reverse their momentum. Abbas argues that Pakistan's civilian and military leadership will have to transition from a short-term strategy of deal-making and army offensives to a long-term political solution that will erode the gains made by militant groups in these areas since 2002.
AP Photo
April 19, 2010
"Inside Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province: The Political Landscape of the Insurgency"
Paper
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Despite comparatively progressive forces taking control of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) after success in the February 2008 provincial elections, stability remains elusive and the law and order situation has gradually deteriorated, raising important questions about the correlation between politics in the province and the nature and extent of militancy there. This essay investigates how different political and religious forces have influenced the state of affairs in the province in recent years.
AP Photo
October 11, 2009
"Deciphering the Attack on Pakistan's Army Headquarters"
Op-Ed, Foreign Policy
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"This was neither the first attack on an army structure in the country nor the most deadly — but it is unprecedented given the extent of the breach of the GHQ security, the confusion that it created in its initial stage (raising concerns about the safety of army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani), and its timing vis-à-vis the planned launch of a ground military operation in South Waziristan. It could be a transformational event for the army — cementing its resolve against local militants, bridging internal divisions and forcing a review of its intelligence estimates. However, jumping to conclusions without a thorough investigation and reacting rashly based on preconceived notions would be highly counterproductive. Additionally, though Pakistan's nuclear installations are not in the immediate vicinity of GHQ, the nature of the attack raises questions about how security agencies would react if a future attack targets any of the nuclear weapons facilities."
AP Photo
September 21, 2009
"Obama's AfPak Metrics Miss the Mark on Pakistan"
Op-Ed, Foreign Policy
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"It is quite striking that framers of the metrics have avoided the merest mention of Pakistan-India relations as a factor in understanding which way the wind is blowing in Pakistan's security environment. While the Obama administration has every right to wish that Pakistan delink its rivalry with India in the Kashmir region from its policy towards Afghanistan (and consequently in Federally Administered Tribal Areas), one cannot ignore the prevailing ground realities."
May 2009
Pakistan Can Defy the Odds: How to Rescue a Failing State
Report
By Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"Is Pakistan collapsing? How far are the Taliban from Islamabad? Can al-Qaeda grab the country's nuclear weapons? These are the types of questions raised every day by the American media, academia and policy circles. And these are critical issues, given the nature of the evolving crisis in Pakistan. The approximately two dozen suicide bombings in 2009 so far, 66 in 2008, and 61 in 2007, all of which have targeted armed forces personnel, police, politicians, and ordinary people not only in the country's turbulent northwest but also in its major urban centers, indicate the seriousness of the threat. A major ammunition factory area located close to some very sensitive nuclear installations in Wah (Punjab) was targeted by two suicide bombers in August 2008, an act that sent shudders across the country's security establishment...."
