Mustafa Qadri

The US has promised Pakistan $7.5bn of aid over five years – if it agrees to oversight of its most sensitive security issues

Mustafa Qadri
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 October 2009 20:00 BST

You would think that the citizens of a developing country promised $7.5bn over five years would be dancing in the streets. Instead, last week’s approval of the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act, formerly the Kerry-Lugar bill, by Congress met with widespread howls of condemnation in Pakistan.

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The human cost of war on the Taliban

Pakistan’s operations against militants have won praise from Washington but displaced thousands of innocent people

o Mustafa Qadri
o guardian.co.uk, Thursday 21 May 2009 14.03 BST

The latest chapter in Pakistan’s war with the Taliban has been a humanitarian disaster for ordinary villagers from Malakand Agency, the region in Pakistan’s lower Himalayas where the battle is now being fought.

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The following report for The Guardian, published today, looks at the recent meetings between the Presidents of the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Washington D.C. and the risks to civilians caught up in the war with the Taliban:

‘Collateral damage’ in AfPak hurts the US too

The bombardment of civilians in Afghanistan undermines the security credentials of western forces in the region

o Mustafa Qadri
o guardian.co.uk, Friday 8 May 2009 16.30 BST

The timing may have been a disaster for Washington, but for villagers in Afghanistan’s south it was far worse. A day after a US bombing killed up to 120 civilians in Afghanistan’s southern Farah province, President Obama asked the visiting presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari, to step up their attacks on Taliban and al-Qaida militants.

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Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has said that suicide bombings that have rocked Iraq are a sign that fighters are afraid the Iraqi government is succeeding in restoring security… “I think in Iraq there will always be political conflicts, there will always be, as in any society, sides drawn between different factions, but [...]

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My latest column for The Guardian, on support for the Taliban in some of Pakistan’s tribal areas, was published today:

Why they love the Taliban

Rampant corruption, and the Pakistani government’s failure to provide, is driving people into the arms of the militants

* Mustafa Qadri
* guardian.co.uk, Friday 24 April 2009 20.30 BST

It may be difficult to understand, but in many of the tribal areas where Pakistan’s ethnic Pakhtun population live, the Taliban are very popular.

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My latest piece for newmatilda.com is based on a recent visit to parts of the Kohat and Dera Adam Khel tribal areas in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province where the Taliban has a strong presence:

Is Al Qaeda About To Conquer Pakistan?

Counter-insurgency expert David Kilcullen believes that Pakistan could collapse “within months”. But Mustafa Qadri reports that in the tribal areas, it is actually the Taliban, not al Qaeda, that is gaining traction…

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