Talk Nation Radio Special
Anatol Lieven on the Crisis for Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the World

Produced by Dori Smith
TRT: 29:13

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We spend the half hour discussing the assassination of Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto with Anatol Lieven, an expert on Afghanistan, national security, and terrorism and a former senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. We look at the assassination, discuss likely perpetrators, and talk about the various types of terrorists operating in the region of Pakistan and Afghanistan. As the world begins to understand the implications of the Bhutto assassination, global markets are falling. We discuss the key issues on people's minds as the nuclear armed Pakistan is further destabilized. We consider the US Military plan to send more US Special Forces into Pakistan on training missions, their new 'surge' plans for Afghanistan, and how the overall policy of the White House could exacerbate the problem and cause things to go critical.

There are dark plans afoot, and some of them have been fronted by the Democrats. All of this happening in a politically charged climate in the US just prior to the Presidential primaries in Iowa. Of concern, terrorists like Gulbadin Hekmatyar who have long benefited from murky US foreign policy initiatives. He and other war lords rose to power during the US effort against Russia. What would happen to such figures in Afghanistan now? Would they benefit from the assassination of Bhutto? (http://talknationradio.com/?p=69) Other questions raised include: What can the US do to prevent a deterioration of security in the region? Who should be approached for talks? Who should be fought? Can America remain in Afghanistan and/or can US forces pull out? What about the impact of British and EU leaders approaching the Taliban for quiet talks?

Anatol Lieven previously covered Central Europe for The Financial Times writing about Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the former Soviet Union. He has also covered Russia as well as India as a freelance journalist and reported for the Eastern Services of the BBC. He is author of numerous books on policy including 'The Baltic Revolution; Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Path to Independence'. That book won him the George Orwell prize for political reporting. You can find his analytical piece on Pakistan 'Western Myths and Pakistani Realities' published by the International Herald Tribune at the New America Foundation http://www.newamerica.net which also features a list of his other books and articles.

Radio producers may feel free to use any portion of this audio for their own reports. We will be providing another half hour special, interviews with Pakistan experts from the Middle East Desk http://middleeastdesk.org/ Graham Usher of al-Ahram Weekly and Kamran Ali in Karachi recorded 12-27 -- 12-28 doritalknation@sbcglobal.net for further information.

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