Pakistan and Iran's Dysfunctional Relationship
by Harsh V.
Pant
Middle East Quarterly
Spring 2009, pp. 43-50
http://www.meforum.org/2119/pakistan-and-irans-dysfunctional-relationship
In April 2008, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited
Pakistan as part of a whistle-stop tour of South Asia. The meeting was
cordial but tense. While the two neighbors were once staunch Cold War
allies, the Islamic Revolution, Afghanistan's civil war, and Pakistan's
nuclear development have transformed the relationship into one of tense
rivalry. As Afghanistan's stability has become a U.S. strategic concern,
preventing Pakistan-Iran tensions from again transforming Afghanistan into
a proxy battlefield should be a U.S. interest. Unfortunately, so long as
the Iranian and Pakistani governments remain concerned with the defense of
Shi'i and Sunni sectarian interests respectively, U.S. and NATO forces in
Afghanistan may not be able to bring stability but at best may remain
referees in a struggle that extends far beyond that country's borders.
A Troubled Triangle
Pakistan and Iran are bound by cultural, tribal, and
religious bonds. Pakistan gained its independence in 1947 at the beginning
of the Cold War. Iran became the first state to recognize the new nation,
and the two neighbors soon developed a strong partnership, signing a
treaty of friendship in 1950. Some of this was geopolitical. Pakistan was
born amidst great bloodshed and a transfer of population with India, a
country with which Pakistan has territorial disputes to the present day.
Pakistan found a natural partner in Iran after the Indian government chose
to support Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser who sought to export a
pan-Arab ideology that threatened many Arab monarchies, a number of which
were favored by the Iranian shah. Iran was a natural ally and model for
Pakistan for other reasons as well. Both had majority Muslim populations
but remained secular, centralized, and Western-oriented in practice. Both
countries granted the other most-favored nation status for trade purposes;
the shah offered Iranian oil and gas to Pakistan on generous terms, and
the Iranian and Pakistani armies cooperated to suppress the rebel movement
in Baluchistan.[1]
Both countries also became major bulwarks of U.S. policy in
the Middle East. Both were firm U.S. allies and members of the anti-Soviet
Baghdad Pact. In 1971, however, the geopolitical situation began to shift.
The withdrawal of British forces from the Persian Gulf left the United
States to fill the vacuum, making Saudi Arabia far more important in U.S.
strategic calculus. Pakistan's defeat in its 1971 war with India—and the
loss of half its territory with Bangladesh's independence—led it to court
China as a means to balance India. Pakistan also sought closer ties with
the Arab states in order to isolate India, and thus weakened its ties to
Iran, even though Islamabad-Tehran relations remained cordial.
The shah's fall in 1979 was a blow to Pakistan. Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini's anti-American posture worried the Pakistani
authorities, as did the prospect of any export to Pakistan of Khomeini's
radical views. After all, in 1979, perhaps 20 percent of Pakistan's
population was Shi'i and, at the same time, Khomeini's religious rhetoric
sparked radicalism across the sectarian divide. Nevertheless, Islamabad
offered an olive branch to Tehran. Pakistan was among the first countries
to recognize the new Islamic Republic and was among very few countries in
the region that refrained from supporting Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war.[2]
The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan brought the Soviet
Union to Pakistan's doorstep, transforming the geostrategic environment
further, all the more so given India's close ties to Moscow. For the
United States, concerned about Soviet expansionism, Pakistan's importance
rose. Ironically, Pakistan, Iran, and the United States all found
themselves on the same side with regard to Afghanistan, even as Iran's
revolutionary authorities continued to hold U.S. diplomats hostage. Though
Iran was preoccupied with domestic turmoil and its war with Iraq in the
1980s, it supported the Afghan resistance and provided limited financial
and military assistance to groups who supported the Iranian vision of
revolutionary Islam.
Meanwhile, Pakistan emerged as the frontline state in the
U.S. struggle to expel the Soviets from Afghanistan. Here, the Pakistani
military regime under General Zia ul-Haq did try to coordinate with the
Islamic Republic but, in practice, Islamabad cooperated much more fully
with Saudi Arabia, which bankrolled Pakistani military programs.[3]
Pakistan became the transit point for weapons and aid to
Saudi-funded, U.S.-equipped, and Pakistani-trained mujahideen who fought
to drive the Red Army from Afghanistan. Pakistani authorities, however,
put a filter on the aid. The loss of Bangladesh—formerly East Pakistan—in
1971 had led the Pakistani leadership to be very wary of ethnic
nationalism. Pashtun nationalism in Afghanistan had challenged Pakistani
cohesion for as long as Bengali nationalism.[4] The Pakistani government, therefore, only allowed
aid to flow to those groups who rallied around a sectarian rather than a
nationalist identity.
The Iranian authorities, in contrast, miscalculated. While
generous with aid to their allies, they had far fewer resources at their
disposal because of the ongoing war of attrition with Iraq. That aid which
Iranian officials could provide, they limited largely to Shi'i and ethnic
Persian-speaking Tajik groups. This transformed a potential
Afghanistan-wide influence into a far more localized interest. Nor, in
contrast to the actions of the Pakistani leadership, did Iranian
authorities properly cultivate or manage their population of Afghan
refugees in order to spread their influence. [5]
Tehran did not want to cede the advantage to Islamabad,
though, and continued to fight for influence in Afghanistan, even as the
Pakistani- and Saudi-backed Taliban consolidated control over 90 percent
of the country. This proxy fight, however, polarized Afghanistan and
brewed further Pakistan-Iran mistrust.
In August 1998, after an incident in which the Taliban
sacked an Iranian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif and murdered six Iranian
diplomats and some agents, the Iranian military massed some seventy
thousand troops on their border with Afghanistan and blamed Pakistan,
claiming that Pakistan had assured the safety of their diplomats.[6] Iranian president Mohammad Khatami,
however, helped walk Iran back from the brink of war as he sought to thaw
relations between Iran and both the United States and the Taliban.
The 9-11 terrorist attacks on the United States changed the
foreign policy priorities of both Iran and Pakistan. The George W. Bush
administration's tough stance forced president Pervez Musharraf to support
Washington's "war on terror," which ended Taliban rule in Kabul.[7] Though Iranian officials welcomed the
move, they soon found themselves encircled by U.S. forces in Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Central Asia, and the Persian Gulf. President Bush's
inclusion of the Islamic Republic as part of an "Axis of Evil" also led
some Iranian officials to presume that Tehran might be next in line for
regime change[8] and ended whatever
détente had occurred in U.S.-Iranian ties under Khatami. Bush's emphasis
on transformative diplomacy and democratization[9] worried Iranian leaders further.
Tehran and Islamabad sought to improve bilateral relations
after the Taliban's 2001 fall. Iran supported the Bonn agreement which,
under U.N. auspices, brought prominent Afghans together to plan for the
future governance of their war-ravaged nation.[10] In December 2002, Iran signed the Kabul
Declaration on Good Neighborly Relations along with Pakistan and other
regional states.[11] Khatami visited
Islamabad in December 2002, the first visit by an Iranian head of state
since 1992. Iran has tried to project itself as a responsible regional
actor since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, urging the Afghan Northern
Alliance to accept the Bonn agreement for the formation of a new
broad-based government in Kabul and offering aid and loans as well as
training Afghan soldiers.[12] It is
investing in construction projects in the western parts of Afghanistan,
building roads, rail links, and border posts.[13] It played a major role in restarting the
post-Taliban political process in Afghanistan and has pledged $560 million
in aid and loans to Afghanistan.[14]
However, other interests are also at play as Iran supports conservative
Shi'i religious schools and warlords and is increasing its intelligence
activities across Afghanistan.[15]
Iran has viewed itself traditionally as the guarantor of the security of
Afghanistan's Shi'a.
However, the situation in Afghanistan continued to
overshadow the relationship. Tehran moved promptly to establish diplomatic
ties with Hamid Karzai's new government.[16] Iranian authorities supported Karzai's attempts to
exert authority over the entire territory of Afghanistan, encouraging the
Hazara, for example, to support Karzai, despite his Pashtun background.
Tehran's links to Ismail Khan, the former Herat governor, were especially
strong. However, Iranian officials supported the U.S. and Afghan central
government's efforts to subordinate Khan—who acted as Iran's proxy in
Afghanistan—to Kabul's authority.[17]
Soft and Hard Power in the Afghanistan Rivalry
Pakistan's Inter-Services
Intelligence agency has long supported the Taliban and has aided its
resurgence. The rejuvenation of the Taliban bolsters Pakistan's role
as a frontline state in the war on terrorism, securing often
lucrative assistance from the United States. The Taliban may be a
concern to both Kabul and Washington, but Islamabad is more willing
to tolerate jihadist violence so long as it is focused outward on
Afghanistan, Kashmir, or other parts of
India. |
While Karzai's government is nominally supported by both
Tehran and Islamabad, neither neighbor has been willing to sacrifice its
own interests. With time, tension has increased. Iran retains its special
interests in Afghanistan's western Herat region, until 1857 part of Iran,
and Pakistan considers the Pashto-speaking southern sections of
Afghanistan to be within its sphere of influence. Kabul remains a
contested area within that sphere. The deterioration in Afghan security,
perhaps sparked by one or both, has also created a dynamic of increasing
tension between Iran and Pakistan.[18] Increasingly, as a perception of U.S. weakness
spreads, Iran has raised its rhetoric against the presence of U.S. and
NATO troops in Afghanistan, which Islamabad nominally supports, at least
publicly. Tehran continues to blame the U.S. presence in Afghanistan for
continuing instability in the region.[19]
Both Iran and Pakistan have adopted strategies of using soft
power influence to provide cover for their more traditional hard power
approach vis-à-vis Afghanistan. Though Musharraf committed Pakistan to
support efforts to stabilize Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban and
agreed to strengthen the Karzai administration, doubts remain as to
Islamabad's capacity and commitment to crack down on terrorists and
militants. Kabul is suspicious of Pakistan, on whom its security largely
depends. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency has long
supported the Taliban and has aided its resurgence. The rejuvenation of
the Taliban bolsters Pakistan's role as a frontline state in the war on
terrorism, securing often lucrative assistance from the United States. The
ISI and Pakistani military elite also see Pakistan as engaged in a proxy
war for influence in Afghanistan.[20]
The Taliban may be a concern to both Kabul and Washington, but Islamabad
is more willing to tolerate jihadist violence so long as it is focused
outward on Afghanistan, Kashmir, or other parts of India. The brazen
terror assault on Mumbai in November 2008 that has increased tensions
between the two nuclear armed states in the subcontinent is just the
latest case of Islamabad continuing to direct Islamist extremism towards
its neighbors.
Iran, meanwhile, has taken a multi-pronged approach towards
Afghanistan, focusing its economic, social, and educational efforts on the
western provinces of Herat, Farah, and Nimruz, perhaps to seek a zone of
influence in western Afghanistan and to prevent the West and the Karzai
administration from adopting a coherent, countrywide strategy.[21] While Iran has focused its
development aid on portions of Afghanistan it considers its near-abroad,
Tehran has learned a political lesson from the past and now cooperates
with any Afghan group, regardless of sect and language, so long as they
oppose the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. The perception that Pakistan and
the United States would gain an upper hand in the evolving political
environment in Afghanistan has pushed Iran into charting a proactive
course towards its eastern neighbor. Iran's strategy toward Afghanistan
seems geared toward hastening the withdrawal of U.S. forces, preventing
the Taliban from regaining power, and trying to keep Afghanistan under
Tehran's sway.
As a result of this policy, some Iranian groups appear to
have reached out to the Taliban. U.S. and NATO forces have repeatedly
intercepted shipments of Iranian weaponry to the Taliban.[22] The Taliban are already using Iranian-made
improvised explosive devices (IEDs) as well as heat seeking missiles and
rifles to deadly effect against Western forces.[23] Though the Iranian government has denied any such
involvement, sections of the Iranian establishment, in particular the Quds
Force, are seen as behind such moves. Several media reports from
Afghanistan suggest that Iran has been increasing its operations in
Afghanistan in an effort to gain influence with the contending insurgent
factions and to hasten the departure of U.S. troops from the country.[24] Growing tensions between
Afghanistan and Pakistan are also working to Iran's advantage with Kabul
increasingly dependent on Tehran for its transit trade routes. The Karzai
government cannot pick fights with both its vital neighbors and so tries
to keep Iran in good humor. While Washington maintains that Iran is
funneling weapons into Afghanistan, the Afghan government continues to say
that Iran is a close friend and ally.[25]
Will a Pakistani-Iranian Rivalry Erupt?
There is little common ground between Iran and Pakistan on a
solution to the Afghan crisis, and history may repeat itself with both
states once again funding proxy wars between Shi'a and Sunnis in each
other's countries as well as in Afghanistan, increasing the likelihood of
a major sectarian explosion in the region.
Communities of some five million Baluch tribesmen stretch
across southwestern Pakistan and southeastern Iran. Baluchis on both sides
of the border feel neglected, on sectarian grounds in Iran and on ethnic
grounds in Pakistan, and nationalist sentiments have long simmered,
sometimes erupting into open insurrection.[26] While the shah helped the Pakistani army crush
Baluch insurgencies in the days prior to his ouster, today insurgency has
again erupted with both Pakistani and Iranian officials accusing each
other of aiding the insurgents. Tehran has also repeatedly accused the
U.S. Special Forces of using their bases in Pakistan to pursue undercover
operations inside Iran designed to foment Baluch opposition to the Islamic
regime.[27] In June 2008, Jundallah
terrorists, an insurgent Baluchi group operating from Pakistan, kidnapped
sixteen members of Iran's paramilitary Law Enforcement Forces (niru-ye
entezami) and, over the course of months, executed all of their
hostages.[28] Tehran blames the
Pakistani government for sheltering the group even though Pakistan has
also declared Jundallah to be a terrorist organization and, on occasion,
Pakistani troops have killed Jundallah terrorists.[29]
Sectarian tension has also complicated relations. In the
1980s, several radical groups sponsored by Pakistani intelligence[30] began a systematic assault on Shi'i
symbols and mosques in Pakistan. Pakistani Shi'a, with Iranian assistance,
responded by forming their own militias. The continued targeting by Sunni
terrorists of Pakistani Shi'a remains an Iranian concern.[31] This Shi'i-Sunni strife in Pakistan has provoked
Iran to provide clandestine support to its co-religionists there.[32]
However, Pakistan and Iran have worked to improve security
cooperation. In 2001, the two states established the Pakistan-Iran Joint
Ministerial Commission on Security to enhance cooperation on security
issues such as terrorism, drug trafficking, and sectarian violence. Top
Iranian political and intelligence officials regularly engage their
Pakistani counterparts, but engagement does not necessarily equate to
trust.
The nuclear issue also complicates Pakistani-Iranian ties.
Pakistani and Western officials sometimes say that Pakistani nuclear
scientist Abdul Qadir Khan operated outside the law when he provided
assistance to Tehran's nuclear weapons program; however, evidence also
suggests that the Pakistani military was not only aware of Khan's nuclear
transactions with Iran but also tacitly approved of his activities.[33] Nevertheless, there remains a sense
of rivalry between Islamabad and Tehran on the nuclear issue, given
Pakistan's unique position as the sole Muslim country with the bomb.
Interestingly, one of the drivers of Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions is
fear of a "Sunni bomb." Rumors of an oil-for-nukes pact between Riyadh and
Islamabad have exacerbated such concerns. [34]
An Economic Solution?
Is it possible to ameliorate Iran-Pakistan ties to prevent
the development of a dynamic that will undercut Afghan security and, by
extension, the safety and security of U.S. and NATO troops present in that
country? Here, economics may provide a solution. Trade between Pakistan
and Iran remains in the range of $500 million, and both governments hope
to double it.[35] Absent much trade,
however, political and security tensions will continue to exercise a
negative effect on ties.
It is in this context that the impetus comes for the
so-called "peace pipeline" that would transport Iranian gas to Pakistan
and onward to India. Should the pipeline project come into operation, then
trade will become the defining feature of Iran-Pakistan ties. Rising
energy demand in both India and Pakistan, at least until the 2008
worldwide recession struck, have led both to consider collaborating on a
gas pipeline from Iranian fields through Pakistan to India. Such a
pipeline might in theory create mutual economic interests and bring
Islamabad perhaps $500 million annually in royalties.[36] However, there has been little progress, largely
because of disagreements about pricing and the methods to be used to
supply gas to India.[37] India and
Iran signed the $22 billion deal in 2005 before Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
assumed the presidency and while the crude oil price was low. India
considers the pricing deal final while Iranian officials have sought an
upward revision in price, arguing that the contract is not valid until the
Iranian Supreme Economic Council ratifies it.[38] There are also differences between the national
oil companies of Iran and India over the legal interpretation of the
contract for the export of five million tons of liquefied natural gas to
India.
Both India and Pakistan have contended that Tehran should
offer a price for gas in line with global practices for long-term
contracts and have rejected Iran's gas pricing formula, whereby the gas
price is linked to Brent crude oil with a fixed escalating cost component.
The Indian government also argues that it should only pay for gas upon
delivery, and opposes Tehran's demand for price revision every three
years.[39] The three states decided
by consensus to refer the matter to an independent consultant, but Tehran
continued to maintain that the consultant's opinion should not be binding,
causing tensions among the three parties. As with many pipeline projects,
the bickering has led to much recrimination but little construction.[40] Other points of contention include
Pakistan's costs for security and transit and U.S. government opposition
to any investment in an Iranian project,[41] alongside Iranian worries that tensions between
Pakistan and India could disrupt operations and undermine economic
viability.[42]
Conclusion
Notwithstanding some tentative recent attempts by Pakistan
and Iran to improve their bilateral ties, the two countries' relationship
remains strained. Rather than bringing the two states together, the
situation in Afghanistan has provided a stage where their rivalry is once
again played out. Though the vacuum resulting from the fall of the Taliban
government is the main factor behind the rising turmoil in Afghanistan,[43] the problem there also remains a
regional one. The more the United States and its NATO allies fail to
secure Afghanistan, the more neighboring states will revive their ties to
ethnic and ideological proxies, creating a dynamic that will further
undermine Afghanistan.
While both Pakistan and Iran seem to have concluded that a
stable, independent, and economically strong Afghan state is preferable to
a weak and troubled one, they remain very sensitive to their relative
gains vis-à-vis each other.
Regardless of who runs Afghanistan, Tehran's and Islamabad's
conflicting interests over Afghanistan have played a pivotal role in the
formation of their foreign policies toward each other. Afghanistan's
predicament is a difficult one. The country may like to enhance its links
with its neighboring states, yet, peace and stability will continue to
elude it so long as its neighbors view it through the lenses of their
regional rivalries and as a chessboard on which to play out the game of
their regional power and influence.
In many ways, it is a paradox. The situation in Afghanistan
can only improve if Tehran and Islamabad revise their attitudes, but any
deterioration in Afghanistan's security situation will instead compound
suspicions and force them to prioritize their own security interests in a
way which intensifies regional rivalries. Iran will only play a positive
role in Afghanistan if it feels its vital interests are not under threat,
and a deteriorating security environment in Afghanistan will only make
Iran feel more vulnerable, forcing it to take steps to safeguard its
interests, letting the conflict spiral further. Pakistan, meanwhile, is
reluctant to cede the preeminent position it has enjoyed for the last
several decades in determining Afghanistan's political trajectory. And as
the security environment in Afghanistan deteriorates further, Islamabad
will view this as an opportunity to maintain its presence in its
neighbor's territory in order to secure its larger strategic
interests.
By no means does this suggest that the United States or its
NATO allies should abandon Afghanistan. However, U.S. policymakers should
recognize that they are not the only players in the sand box nor that
their struggle to stabilize the Karzai regime and battle the Taliban is
the only fight going on in the country. Indeed, until there is fundamental
change in either Tehran or Islamabad, Afghanistan will remain a crossroad
if not for armies, then for their proxies.
Harsh V. Pant is a lecturer in the defense studies
department at King's College London and an associate at the King's
Center for Science and Security Studies.
[1] Shahram Chubin and Sepehr Zabin, The Foreign
Relations of Iran (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974),
pp. 140-69.
[2] Mushahid Hussain,
"Pakistan-Iran Relations in the Changing World Scenario: Challenges and
Response," in Tarik Jain, et al, eds., Foreign Policy Debate: The Years
Ahead (Islamabad: Institute of Policy Studies, 1993), pp. 215-9.
[3] Stephen Cohen, The Idea of
Pakistan (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2004), p.
122.
[4] Michael Rubin, "Who's
Responsible for the Taliban?" Middle East Review of International
Affairs, Mar. 2002.
[5] Ali
Mohammadi and Anoushiravan Ehteshami, Iran and Eurasia (Reading,
U.K.: Ithaca Press, 2000), pp. 141-5.
[6] Ahmad Rashid, Taliban (London: Yale University
Press, 2000), pp. 203-5; "Pakistan: Haven for Killers," Tehran
Times, Feb. 24, 1998.
[7] Gary
C. Schroen, First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded
the War on Terror in Afghanistan (New York: Ballantine, 2005), pp.
43-74; Richard B. Andres, Craig Wills, and Thomas E. Griffith Jr.,
"Winning with Allies: The Strategic Value of the Afghan Model,"
International Security, Winter 2005/06, pp. 124-60.
[8] Alef.ir (Tehran), July
14, 2008.
[9] The National Security
Strategy of the United States of America (Washington, D.C.: The
White House, Sept. 2002); John Lewis Gaddis, "A Grand Strategy of
Transformation," Foreign Policy, Nov./Dec. 2002), pp. 50-7.
[10] "Agreement on Provisional
Arrangements in Afghanistan Pending the Re-Establishment of Permanent
Government Institutions (Bonn
Agreement)," United Nations, Bonn, Ger., Dec. 5, 2001.
[11] "Kabul
Declaration on Good Neighbourly Relations," Afghanistan Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Dec. 22, 2002.
[12] Marvin G. Weinbaum, "Afghanistan
and Its Neighbors," Special Report, United States Institute of Peace,
June 2006, pp. 12-4.
[13] Islamic
Republic News Agency (Tehran), Oct, 27, 2003.
[14] The New York Times, Dec. 27, 2006.
[15] RFE/RL Iran Report, July 8,
2002; The New York Times, Dec. 27, 2006.
[16] Eurasia.net (New York), Feb.
26, 2002.
[17] Thomas Johnson,
"Ismail Khan, Herat, and Iranian Influence," Strategic Insights
(U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Contemporary Conflict), July
2004.
[18] Barnett R. Rubin,
"Saving Afghanistan," Foreign Affairs, Jan./Feb. 2007, pp.
57-78.
[19] Manouchehr Mottaki,
Iranian foreign minister, "Our Activities Are
Legal," interview, Newsweek, Oct. 13, 2008.
[20] Husain Haqqani, Pakistan:
Between Mosque and Military (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, 2005), pp. 238-60.
[21] Frederick Kagan, Kimberly Kagan, Danielle Pletka,
Iranian
Influence in the Levant, Iraq and Afghanistan (Washington, D.C.:
American Enterprise Institute, Feb. 19, 2008), pp. 37-56.
[22] Robert Gates, U.S. secretary of
defense, news briefing, Ramstein Air Force Base, Ger., June
13, 2007; The Washington Post, Sept. 21, 2007.
[23] "… As Afghan Authorities Say 100 Iranian-made IEDs
Found," Newsline, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Aug.
15, 2007.
[24] Muhammad Tahir, "Iranian
Involvement in Afghanistan," Terrorism Monitor (Jamestown
Foundation, Washington, D.C.), Jan. 18, 2007.
[25] The International Herald Tribune (Paris), Aug.
7, 2007.
[26] Selig Harrison,
In Afghanistan's Shadow: Baluch Nationalism and Soviet Temptations
(Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
1981).
[27] Selig Harrison,
"Pakistan's Baluch Insurgency," Le Monde, Oct. 2006.
[28] BBC Persian Service, June
20, 2008; Alef.ir, July 12, 2008, Dec. 4, 2008.
[29] The Gulf Times (Dubai), Feb.
15, 2007; Asr-e Iran (Tehran), Apr. 6, 2008.
[30] Olivier Roy, Globalised Islam:
The Search for a New Ummah (London: Hurst, 2002), pp. 35-43.
[31] Vali R. Nasr, "International
Politics, Domestic Imperatives, and Identity Mobilization: Sectarianism in
Pakistan, 1979-1998," Comparative Politics, Jan. 2000, pp.
175-87.
[32] Zahid Hussain,
Frontline Pakistan: The Struggle with Militant Islam (London: I.B.
Tauris, 2007), pp. 89-101.
[33]
Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins, The Nuclear Jihadist (New
York: Twelve, 2007), pp. 176-9.
[34] Thomas Woodrow, "The Sino-Saudi Connection," China
Brief, Jamestown Foundation, Oct. 24, 2002.
[35] The Nation (Islamabad), July 25, 2008.
[36] Sohaib Shahid, "Iran-Pak-India Gas
Pipeline: Implications and Prospects," Jang (Karachi), Jan. 15,
2007.
[37] Dawn (Karachi),
Apr. 12, 2007.
[38] P.R.
Kumaraswamy, "Delhi:
Between Tehran and Washington," Middle East Quarterly, Winter
2008, pp. 41-7.
[39] The Indian
Express (New Delhi), Nov. 1, 2008.
[40] Aftab-e Yazd (Yazd), Nov. 3, 2008.
[41] For greater detail, see Harsh V.
Pant, "A Fine Balance: India Walks a Tightrope between Iran and the United
States," Orbis, Summer 2007, pp. 495-509.
[42] Alef.ir, Oct. 5, 2008.
[43] Seth G. Jones, "The Rise of
Afghanistan's Insurgency," International Security, Spring 2008, pp.
7-40.
Related Topics: Iran, South Asia Spring 2009
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