Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military

"Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military" (http://www.amazon.com/Pakistan-Between-Military-Husain-Haqqani/dp/0870032143/sr=8-1/qid=1165201521/ref=sr_1_1/102-9600135-6574545?ie=UTF8&s=books) is an interesting look at a relatively young nation whose importance in the world cannot be overstated. As a frontline country in the war on terrorism and an erstwhile ally of the United States, not to mention a nuclear power and the second largest Muslim nation in the world today, Pakistan has always been strategically important. And they have become strategically important to the United States, because of America's fight against communism or terror, depending on the decade.

But make no mistake, Pakistan, which has been controlled by the military more or less since its inception, works ruggedly in its own domestic interests: first, to maintain its sovereignty versus it's pre-partition parent, India; second, Pakistan will maintain its nuclear program at all costs; and third, Pakistan wants a client government in Afghanistan which will serve to work with Pakistan rather than its antagonist, India.

Over the years, as this book details, Pakistan has courted the United States in order to receive economic, and more importantly, military aid, to build up against India. Meanwhile, in order to maintain their position of government, the military (more often than not) has worked with Islamist interests within the country to provide a counterweight so that the international community will not struggle to mandate democratic reforms within the country (in other words, Pakistan pumps up the threat of the Islamists as a way to warn the international community of what the alternative to military rule would be).

The bottom line, as the author implies is that Pakistan cannot militarily defeat India. Nor does India have any aspirations to reintegrate Pakistan into its nation. All the militarization does is destablize the nation by diverting much needed resources which could be used to build up Pakistan's educational, commercial and health care infrastructure, and instead, the funds are used to build up an army versus a largely benign neigbor.

As a liberal and member in two of the civilian Pakistani governments, perhaps the author, Husein Haqqani understates the threat from India, or perhaps he portrays it accurately. However, the one weakness of the book in my opinion was not delving into the perceived need for Pakistan's military build-up. All in all, however, the book was excellent.