How did a nation founded as a homeland for South Asian Muslims following a tolerant form of Islam become a haven for Al Qaeda and a rogues’ gallery of domestic jihadist and sectarian groups?
This groundbreaking history of Pakistan’s involvement with radical Islam places the blame on the rulers of the country, who thought they could use Islamic radicals to advance their foreign-policy goals without having to pay a steep price. But the government’s plans began to unravel in the wake of 9/11, when the rulers’ support for the U.S. war on terror caused many of their jihadist allies to turn against them.
The Unravelling is a clear account of the complex 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 other nations at risk. Can they save their country, or will we one day find ourselves confronting the first nuclear-armed jihadist state?
‘Pakistan is where all the headaches of the twenty-first century come together. … John R. Schmidt draws upon firsthand experience as a diplomat in the nation to explain why.’—Madeleine K. Albright, U.S. Secretary of State, 1997–2001
‘John R. Schmidt … makes a powerful case that Pakistan’s “feudal political class” is that deserving but conflicted country’s worst enemy. He is just as frank in his critique of U.S. policy.’ —Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution‘… this thought-provoking, evenhanded, and sobering history is a “cautionary tale” about the choices Pakistan’s ruling classes have made that threaten to bring it to the brink of destruction.’—Publishers Weekly