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Reddit mentions of Magnificent Delusions: Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding
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Reddit mentions: 5
We found 5 Reddit mentions of Magnificent Delusions: Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding. Here are the top ones.
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- Used Book in Good Condition
Features:
Specs:
| Height | 9.75 Inches |
| Length | 6.75 Inches |
| Number of items | 1 |
| Release date | November 2013 |
| Weight | 1.45 Pounds |
| Width | 1.5 Inches |
I wrote this part last, but I'm going to put it at the top so that you will read it. I feel like I wrote much more than I needed to on this, and it's a bit late when I did write this, so I hope I didn't overlook anything too important or stay on one topic for too long. Let me know if you have any questions or if you'd like me to condense this.
I'm afraid I really only sound like I know more than I do on the subject, but most of what I have learned comes from Husain Haqqani's "Magnificent Delusions" and I could be wrong on things.
I think a good thing to start on is the creation of the national identity of Pakistan. As we all know, Pakistan was created to be a state for the Muslims of the former British territory. Before the partition in 1947, there had never been a Pakistan. There are few things that hold this young nation together. What defines Pakistan's national identity is their devotion to Islam and their fear of India.
You probably know the territorial dispute over Kashmir, it's existed since the partition and is the biggest strain on rapprochement between Pakistan and India. Kashmir is majority Muslim, but is a part of India. Pakistanis believe that it belongs it is Pakistani because of this majority, and have fought several wars with India and supported many insurgencies in the region. I don't have a source for this, and neither does Haqqani's book, but it is believed that India possibly wanted to include Kashmir to prove India was a secular state, and not the Hindi imperials that Pakistan sees them as today. Kashmir is one of the issues that has always united Pakistanis and distracted the population from the states underlying problems, be it it's stagnant economy or its overly bloated military.
To deal with these insecurities, Pakistan's elite believed they needed a strong army to combat India, and saw the United States as the perfect friend to this start-up nation. Pakistan attempted to pitch itself and its proximity to the Soviets as a freedom-loving, pious Muslims who could fight the godless communist menace and halt their influence in the South Asian region. Early on, the United States was open to relations with Pakistan, but was not too interested in arming them with an absurdly large grocery list of military equipment (100 M-47/48 tanks, 4 submarines, 12 B-57s, 25 F-5s, 1000 trucks, and artillery and communications equipment and much much more). America had fulfilled some of their requests along with wheat aid, and this was the beginning of a long, awkward relationship of which neither party shared the same goals.
Throughout the Cold War, the the United States felt that Pakistan did not do enough to combat communism in the region while Pakistan did not think the United States was supportive enough of Pakistan and too close with India. I may be overlooking some of Pakistan's contributions, but the most they had done during the Cold War before was lease a listening post that the US had used to intercept Soviet communications, and they were also important in opening up relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China, at least until the Afghan-Soviet War.
At this time, the US had thought the Paks were seeking nuclear proliferation and were close to their goal, but General Zia, the dictator at that time, had told President Reagan that he had no knowledge of a nuclear program, and Reagan took his word on it, but we see how that turned out in 1990. Reagan did not want to believe that the Paks were building a bomb because of the great proxy war that was, for the most part, the responsibility of the ISI, Pakistan's intelligence agency. A lot of people get the misconception that the United States had created Al Qaeda from this war, and every time I hear that, it drives me mad. The ISI was given almost complete autonomy over this operation, and their role was the training of the Muj and the distribution of weapons and money to the militants fighting the Soviets. The United States had an agreement that whatever Saudi Arabia would spend, America would equal that. America's role was for the most part, supplying money and weapons for the ISI to distribute. I don't want this to sound like I'm trying to shift the blame to anyone, but Pakistan had played a phenomenal role in that war, and this was probably their greatest contribution to the Cold War.
Exploding Mangoes was the first book I read about Pakistan. Here's a list:
A little dry for my taste but I couldn't recommend this more. This book charts the social consequences of state policies and economic factors over the whole time period from '47 to now.
Very important book if you want to avoid the conspiracy theories floating about Taliban and our role in their rise.
Interested in Pakistan army's relationship with mullahs over the years? This is a must-read.
Title is self explanatory.
A very informative and interesting two part series on what joins the non-Arab muslims of the world, with a large portion about Pakistan. Written by Nobel Laureate for Literature Naipaul, behnoi of Maj. Gen. Ameer Faisal Alvi who was assassinated in 2008 in Islamabad.
A good overview of what makes Pakistan run the way it does.
Haven't read it but have heard good things about it.
Haven't read it yet.
You should wonder why.
Afterall, we have a lot in common and shared values: Democracy, rule of law, separation of state and religion, constitutional values, etc.
BUT, the US has got this nasty habit of cohabiting with Pakistan, and turning a blind eye to Pakistan's Jihad with India. Also, ARMING the crazy Pakistanis with sophisticated weaponry, from F16 to Radars.
We don't hate USA, but we are wary of its machinations. The only bad thing is: average americans who are all for fair play have no idea of what your Govt. does.
Search for the 'Blood telegraphs'.
also, this: Pakistan-US:BFF
Try these written by ex- Pakistan's Ambassador to United States, Hussain Haqqani
And perhaps The Blood Telegram, a memoir of Archer Blood who was an American Diplomat in East Pakistan.
Please do read a bit more - Kashmir is just a proxy, root cause is religious. After Kashmir it'll be Punjab, then other states. Pakistan is a terrorist nation and has been involved in terrorism since it's inception.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_and_state-sponsored_terrorism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleed_India_with_a_Thousand_Cuts
"We will wage 1000 wars against India" - Bhutto
https://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Delusions-Pakistan-History-Misunderstanding/dp/1610393171
https://www.amazon.com/Fighting-End-Pakistan-Armys-Way/dp/0199892709
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