Five Rupees

For many years during the height of the so-called War on Terror, GHQ defended its decision-making re: Afghanistan/the Taliban/the double game/"do more" with a three-fold argument: 1-Pakistan will be next to Afghanistan a lot longer than America will be in it 2-Given #1, maintaining leverage over, and control of, the ruling regime on the western border is in Pakistan's interests, mainly due to the existential threat emanating from the eastern one 3-The regime of choice to deliver the security benefits in #2 is the Taliban To recall, the main costs of the policy predicated on the above claims were (a) Pakistani lives (somewhere between fifty and one hundred thousand dead), (b) Pakistan's reputation in Afghanistan and amongst a new generation of ordinary Afghans, and (c) Pakistan's reputation in DC. No one, even at the time, was unaware of these costs. Indeed, there is very good evidence that GHQ was deeply cognizant of each of these costs and yet considered them wor...

Well, that was exhilarating, wasn't it? Here are some quick reactions to a historic day and shellacking.  That felt good I don't just mean in the way that wins feel good, or even big wins against India -- remember them? -- feel good. There was just something very psychologically satisfying about that result and how comprehensive it was. I think if I were to pinpoint why, it would be about the very public nature of the assertion that we actually matter as a cricketing nation. It's kind of amazing how much disrespect Pakistan -- not the political nation, but as a historic force in this dumb sport played by like ten countries in a serious way -- gets today. Zooming out from the specifics of a cancelled tour here and scheduling quirks there, it's honestly kind of insane how easy it is for the rest of the world to shit on us. Everyone knows about the Big 3 structure and the scheduling/financial imbalances in world cricket, but it's still jarring to see at times.  I mean,...

First of all, I want to get one thing straight. Anyone who tweets on issues of public importance more than I do is a mere activist and Not A Real Scholar, while anyone who does so less than me is a conservative square who is a Servant of Empire.  Now that we've got that out of the way, we can get to the substance of this post. In my narrow corner of the world, there has been a lot of discussion about the extent to which scholars should involve themselves in ongoing polarizing events, especially on social media.  I want to start with a confession and a concession. First, the confession. Since roughly 2019 or so, I've taken a step back from Twitter due to the tremendous amount of abuse I experienced on there for my opinions on South Asian domestic and international politics. People often say "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." Well, I did. In other words, if someone does not want to comment on Israel-Palestine because they don't want to deal w...

It is a terribly sad indictment that LUMS was compelled to cancel it's (online) conference on the 1971 war and genocide. When I first learned of the conference on Twitter, I was pleasantly surprised. An open and honest discussion of the war? That's great!  The School of Humanities and Social Sciences,LUMS, in collaboration with the National Institute of Pakistan Studies (NIPS),Quaid-i-Azam University, is organizing an online conference to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Bangladesh War of Liberation. Here's the schedule: pic.twitter.com/oOqRN1SUgA — Ali Usman Qasmi (@AU_Qasmi) March 19, 2021 More than that, while the association of those damn pinkos at LUMS was to be expected -- if something like this was going to happen, you can bet it would involve them in some capacity -- the fact of QAU also being involved was interesting. For better or worse, I interpreted their involvement as a tacit nod from the powers that be that this was okay. And if it was okay, how ...

Good news in South Asia IR is rare. I have three basic thoughts right now.   Stay in your lane Amongst people who care about national security and foreign policy in India and Pakistan, including journalists, think tankers, academics, and random people on Twitter, there are basically two groups of people. We can affectionately call them, respectively, the peaceniks and the chest-thumpers. As a circle, the peaceniks is small, lonely, and subject to a great deal of abuse, ridicule, name-calling, and bullying from chest-thumpers, who happen to outnumber peaceniks both online and IRL in a roughly 100:1 ratio (a conservative estimate).  Which is why I have found the some of the reactions to this very positive development quite funny.  Sorry, but if you are a chest-thumper at all other times, you don't get to say pipe in when something peacenik-y happens and say "wow what a great development, I support this thing happening with all my heart" and act like your positions and ...

This is part 2 of a post looking at my worst travel experiences on a Pakistani passport. For Part 1, including a description of how rankings and scores are calculated, click here .  Without further ado... Ranking: Tied-7th Country: U.S. Category: Customs and Immigration Year: 2016 or 2018 [I don't remember] The second time Toronto features in this list. YYZ is always a terrible experience because invariably I get sent to secondary and it can take ages. Despite going to the airport 3 hours before departure, I once missed a flight and at least a couple other times came really close to doing so [my wife and I both have close family in Toronto which is why I make so many trips there]. I would say my secondary average from 2007-2014 or so was roughly 100% and from 2015-present probably about 40-50% [I got a green card in 2015]. The point is: every time I don't  get sent to secondary, it's like a mini celebration or victory.  Anyways, so my wife [Canadian citizen] and I are fly...

Last Friday, I became a U.S. citizen. The main difference between having a green card (which I had for the last 5 years) and citizenship is (a) being able to vote, and (b) being able to travel like a normal human being.  I missed the boat on (a) by about a month but this post is concerned with (b). People from brown and black countries often have a really tough time explaining to the rest of the world (not just Westerners) just how insanely challenging and spirit-breaking international travel is.  Some of this ignorance comes from them thinking their experience is representative: if travel is seamless for them, it must be so for everyone. Others are aware of things like "visas" but believe that it's a small bureaucratic hurdle, akin to getting a driver's license. A select few, because their friends, family, or educational background, go so far as to be basically aware of the reality of first world vs third world citizenship. No one, however, truly grasps the totality ...