Monday, October 26, 2026 · Petrol Rs 377.71 · USD/PKR 277.05 · Gold Rs 424536/tola
Breaking
Asif Khaliq drives blue-eyed Chaiwala Arshad Khan’s London success Munir and Naqvi Join Makkah Pact Talks in Tehran Iran Says the Border Is Open as Pakistan Ships LPG by Sea Six Militants and Two Soldiers Killed in DI Khan Imran Khan’s Sisters Held for Another 30 Days Rights Commission Calls for the KP Emergency to End Makkah Pact Officials Head to Tehran for Security Talks Riyadh Airport Partly Reopens Two Weeks After Attack Indian Duty-Free Access Threatens Pakistan’s Textile Edge Peshawar Begins Polio Drive for 1.11 Million Children KSE-100 Loses 4,045 Points Over the Week Task Force Asks Industry for Export Proposals PTI Weighs Talks Against Protest Over KP Seven of One Family Killed in Murree Road Accident Mir Raza’s Father Asks for a JIT Member to Be Replaced Pakistan Rejects a $490m Loan as Too Expensive Minister Seeks Loan Rescheduling as Rates Bite at 25pc 31,000 Consumers Denied the Petrol Subsidy Portal Glitch Blocks Returning Pakistanis From Filing LPG Cargoes Down to Two as Senate Presses on Winter Fuel

Articles for tag: Afghanistan, asad durrani, COAS, Hamza Azhar Salam, Imran Khan, ISI, Pakistan, pakistan daily, raja furqan ahmed, Shehbaz Sharif, The Pakistan Daily, TPD Investigations Desk, TPD Leaks

Selecting an Army Chief– Lt Gen (R) Asad Durrani

Muqaam Faiz koie rah mein jacha hi nahin; jo kooey yar se nickley toe sooey daar chaley (Between the gallows and my beloved’s lane, no other place was good enough for me) I don’t think Faiz, while composing these immortal lines, was thinking of the choices our chief executives have to make when selecting an army chief. It still turned out that wayevery now and then. One of our prime ministers was hanged by his cherry-picked COAS; and some others were given another lease of life when the incumbent head-honcho of the uniformed clan ended their misery in Cromwellian style.

Crime and Punishment– Lt Gen (R) Asad Durrani

Dostoevsky’s epic novel was about the crime of a lone killer. Iqbal, our founding philosopher, however, believes that there could be circumstances under which culpable acts by individuals might be mitigated – but there was no way the Almighty would forgive the sins of a society. Makes sense, of course; because their effects were more devastating. And then, though some huge disasters were triggered by a small number at the helm, the consequences had to be borne almost exclusively by the common man who wasn’t even guilty by association. Overtime, one did understand that when dispensing mass retribution, it might

Faust Lives On – Lt Gen (R) Asad Durrani

Sometime in 2014, I was invited to take part in a discussion on a crisis in Ukraine. I accepted more out of curiosity: now, who would host a debate about a country, hardly anyone here had heard of; except vaguely in the context of a tank deal! To be honest though, I had a vested interest as well. Stratfor, an American think tank had recently described Ukraine as Russia’s Strategic Depth – and musing over such abstractions was my favourite pastime. SD is a sound concept; all nation-states strive to create one to improve their room for manoeuvre. The best

The Past comes back to Hound – Lt Gen (R) Asad Durrani

Over the years, you must have heard plenty of philosophical mumbo-jumbo: past is thepresent; no, it’s the future; and that sort of stuff! Having belonged to a calling that’s more about getting on with things – no moaning and groaning; no making of wish lists and no waiting for Godot or the lady luck – one nevertheless was not willing to remain stuck with the past. In fact, I wished the older generation, nostalgically reminiscing over the good old days, moved to the old people’s home while they still could walk. One continues to believe that living in the past

Conspiracy or Bust (Opinion)

The US is indeed in the business of changing regimes. It can do so by directly invading a country – as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan; with the help of allies, like in Libya; supporting insurgencies – the Syrian example; or through clandestine maneuvers that target a country’s fault lines. Since the environment is not always conducive to the use of overt means, a covert approach is the preferred option. Of course, they take a long time and need to be delicately steered, but spare the cost of a military operation and afford plausible deniability – and escape embarrassment

Strategy of Inaction – Lt Gen (R) Asad Durrani

If anyone expected that after the OIC Foreign Ministers conference in Islamabad, truckloads of food, blankets and medicines would start rolling into Afghanistan, one obviously had no idea what these circuses are all about.  In any organisation, when taking a decision was becoming inconvenient since it had to be followed up by an action one would rather not take, the matter was best handed over to a committee. If wisely constituted, there was a good chance one would not hear of the troublesome issue anymore. In recent times, this recipe was best served by the Chilcot Commission, constituted to probe

An Army of Lions (Opinion) – Lt Gen (R) Asad Durrani

“An Army of Lions …led by a sheep will be defeated by an army of sheep led by a lion”. It’s a famous quote with ownership contested across the time and space frontiers—from the old Greece to present-day Ghana. Since it’s about the pivotal role of the leader, uncontested over the ages; its unique status is a given. Archives are overflowing with, and the shelves are creaking under, the literature on leaders and leadership. Never have so many ventured to formulate a set of principles – at times a dozen or more. Some indeed would be common in all the

Einstein and Bruce – Lt Gen (R) Asad Durrani

Not Bruce Lee, but the Scottish king who after repeated setbacks was inspired by a spider to resume his struggle and liberated his country. Einstein, on the other hand, having experimented all his life, surmised that “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results was insane”. The US and Pakistan may often have pursued different goals but their armies have one in common: to prove Einstein’s theory of insanity wrong. After losing to the Viet Cong, the American Army came up with probably the first written doctrine to fight insurgents. It highlighted the primacy of soft power

Betrayal or Self Deception?

“No one ever deceives you; you deceive yourself” – Goethe An article by Sami Sadat, a former three-star general in the now defunct Afghan National Army, was lately doing rounds on social media. Some suspected his credentials; others thought he didn’t look sufficiently weather-beaten to befit his Résumé, and still others were wondering if it was at the King’s College that he learnt to write so well! Some of course commented on the article – but only on its contents. ANA was not created in a vacuum – and not even to serve a military purpose. I was lucky enough

Hamza Azhar SalamEditor — Hamza Azhar Salam · Write to us with suggestions or tips
Powered by: Frontpage.dev
WP Twitter Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com