Book Review: "Pakistan", by Mary Anne Weaver

The roots of the fundamentalist movement go back to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan's adjacent neighbor to the north-west. The United States and Saudi Arabia saw the Afghan resistance movement as an opportunity to fight the Soviets in a proxy war that would bleed Communist economic and military strength. In the minds of U.S. government officials, it was a cold-war battle that would hasten the end to the Soviet Evil Empire. And they were largely correct in this analysis. U.S. arms and money, coupled with an even greater contribution from Saudi Arabia would make the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan a horror on a par with U.S. involvement in Viet Nam.

There was a catch, however. The money and arms had to be funneled through Pakistan. The military dictator in charge of Pakistan was none other than a man by the name of Zia ul-Haq. Although not strictly a fundamentalist himself, he made sure that it was the groups most religiously grounded that received money and weapons. Thus, he began to turn what began as a secular struggle for liberty into a holy war. Mary Anne Weaver ably documents this process through concise prose that is both interesting and informative. Ms. Weaver spent many years in Pakistan and personally interviewed some of the major players including Benazir Bhutto (the first female prime minister of a Muslim country) as well as the current ruler, Pervez Musharraf.

Saudi Arabia recruited young men from around the Arab world for the battle with the infidel Soviets. These men, trained in the crucible of war (by the CIA) and indoctrinated by the Muslim Clerics supported by ul-Haq, beat the Soviets and went home to their own countries, bringing with them their fundamentalist ideology. Many became impatient with the corruption and secular nature of the regimes of their own countries and formed their own revolutionary cells. This has since destabilized the whole region and spawned any number of terrorist organizations.

Mary Anne Weaver points out that the U.S. was partly responsible for this problem. By allowing weapons and funds to be channeled to religious fanatics, we, in a sense incubated them. It was done originally in the belief that the committed Mujahidin would be the best weapon against Soviet imperialism. Little thought was given to the future ramifications of forming a religious revolutionary army with connections across the Islamic world.

We let the Genie out of the bottle, now we are struggling mightily to put him back inside.

Of course the story of modern Pakistan is more than its relations with Afghanistan and the United States. It is also the story of Zulfikar Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, bird hunting in Balochistan, the Punjab, the infamous Pakistani ISI, the struggle over Kashmir with India, the "Muslim Bomb" and more.

"Pakistan: in the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan", by Mary Anne Weaver is timely and fascinating. Ms. Weaver's personal experiences are peppered throughout the book. Her first hand accounts lend immeasurably to the authenticity, accuracy and immediate nature of her narrative and analysis. The book is both a pleasure to read and a valuable education on a corner of the world that remains obscure even as it has become vital to U.S. foreign policy. Highly Recommended. *****

This book is available at Amazon.com