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I met Richard Holbrooke at a conference in Kazakhstan a few years ago alongside the arch-neocon Richard Perle. I was surprised by the similarity of views they both held towards the Muslim world in general and towards what the U.S. was doing post- 9/11 in Afghanistan. And if we remember that Holbrooke was Hillary Clinton's senior policy advisor, we will understand where he is really coming from. After all, Hillary Clinton supported the Iraq war until it became unpopular in the U.S., when she conveniently changed positions. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan— Accept that Obama has nothing positive to offer Pakistan . On the contrary, following the drone attacks, he moved to name Richard Holbrooke as Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to cut off a major chunk of money owed to Pakistan for military services rendered . And what has our reaction been? Without looking at Holbrooke's record, we have welcomed his appointment, and in response to the cutting of money owed, we have decla...

With 180 girls' schools torched since 2008 in Pakistan's Swat Valley and some 900 indefinitely closed, the future for education for some 125,000 young women is under dire threat by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The latest bombings took place Monday in the district capital, Mingora, "once considered the safest place in Swat," according to The Guardian . Five girls' schools were leveled by TTP militants who last week decreed a permanent ban on education for girls. In recent weeks, residents who have crossed the TTP have been strung-up from trees, beaten, or had their shops destroyed while markets have been ruled " no go " areas for women. First mobilized during the 1980s by the CIA and Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency (ISI) as "plausibly deniable" assets to wage "holy war" against Afghanistan's socialist government, organized crime and drug-linked jihadi groups now threaten Pakistan itself. Call it "blo...