Overview

"""This is a book filled with useful information, objectively presented, and offered at precisely the right time.""---Madeleine K. Albright, U.S. Secretary of State, 1997--2001 How did a nation founded as a homeland for South Asian Muslims become a haven for Al Qaeda and other jihadist groups? In this groundbreaking work, former U.S. diplomat John R. Schmidt, who served in Pakistan in the years leading up to 9/11, takes a detailed look at the country's relationship with radical Islam. The Unraveling is the clearest account yet of the complex, dangerous relationship between the leaders of Pakistan and jihadist groups---and how the rulers' decisions have led their nation to the brink of disaster and put the world at great risk."

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9781250013910

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The go-to book for readers who want an in-depth understanding of America's number one foreign policy conundrum: Pakistan Essential. Thomas W. Simons Jr., former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan Schmidt ornaments his polemic with personal anecdotes and hard-won insights. The book's final chapter [will] have you riveted. The Washingtonian A rare, lucid take on the turmoil in Pakistan Schmidt offers a cogent analysis of the havoc caused by a nettlesome concoction of feudal lords, strong military, American pressure, and radical Islamist factions all vying for dominance. Kirkus Reviews Indispensable Explains how various Pakistani regimes long nurtured extremist groups only to find themselves under attack from this same explosive element. Publishers Weekly

The go-to book for readers who want an in-depth understanding of America's number one foreign policy conundrum: Pakistan...Essential. --Thomas W. Simons Jr., former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan Schmidt ornaments his polemic with personal anecdotes and hard-won insights. The book's final chapter [will] have you riveted. --The Washingtonian A rare, lucid take on the turmoil in Pakistan...Schmidt offers a cogent analysis of the havoc caused by a nettlesome concoction of feudal lords, strong military, American pressure, and radical Islamist factions all vying for dominance. --Kirkus Reviews Indispensable...Explains how various Pakistani regimes long nurtured extremist groups only to find themselves under attack from this same explosive element. --Publishers Weekly

<p> Pakistan is where all the headaches of the twenty-first century come together. In The Unraveling, John R. Schmidt draws upon his first-hand experience as a diplomat in that nation to explain why. This is a book filled with useful information, objectively presented, and offered at precisely the right time. --Madeleine K. Albright, U.S. Secretary of State, 1997-2001 Schmidt, a career foreign officer and political analyst, ominously chronicles how a country conceived with great hopes as a homeland for South Asian Muslims has become 'the most dangerous place on Earth.' In a clear and systematic analysis of Pakistan's history, he examines the country's beginnings in the partition of India in 1947, exploring the rise of the feudal civilian politicians and the Pakistani army that now dominate Pakistan's politics, and who, united in their enmity toward India, nurtured jihadist groups as 'low-cost weapons of war' to defend their contested territory in Kashmir--and fight the Soviets in Af

Author Information

John R. Schmidt teaches at the Elliott School for International Affairs at George Washington University. He served in the State Department during a thirty-year service career, including as Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad in the years leading up to 9/11.

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