Akbar Khan (1912-1994) was a Pathan from Charsadda area of Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa. He was from the pareech khel clan of Muhammad zai tribe that inhabits the village of Utmanzai. Akbar was from the last batch of Indian officers commissioned from Royal Military College Sandhurst in February 1934. Lieutenant General B.M. Kaul “Bijji” was his course mate at Sandhurst…
“We know that it was not strategy nor tactics nor leadership that really gained us the victory, but the spirit of sacrifice”. General Sir William Birdwood’s address on unveiling of the Punjab Frontier Force (PIFFER) Memorial at Kohat October 23, 1924. It is impossible to narrate the story of the Indian Army in the Great…
Former Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (DGISI) Lieutenant General ® Asad Durrani’s memoirs “Pakistan Adrift” will be released in Pakistan in the second week of October 2018. This is a memoir of a former DGISI and Ambassador and his perspective about events of the last two decades. Durrani is considered a cerebral officer by his peers…
Steve Coll’s new book is an excellent account of events of the last two decades in Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Steve has all the credentials to embark on this project. He is one of the best and well-informed journalists and his previous book Ghost Wars is the most authentic work of the history of Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA’s) war…
‘Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please’. Mark Twain Pakistan is in the throes of a judicial crisis since March 2007. On March 09, 2007, General Pervez Musharraf summoned Chief Justice Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhry to the Army House where he was asked some tough questions and then…
“The establishments in the US, Pakistan and India are usually working for theirown good rather than for the good of their public. Shaking them might not be a bad idea”. Former Director General of Inter Service Intelligence (ISI)Lieutenant General (R) Asad Durrani quoted in Spy Chronicles Pakistanis will be voting for general elections on 25…
“In Turkey, we have marriage of Islam and democracy. The child of this marriage is secularism. This child gets sick from time to time. The Turkish armed forces are the doctor which saves the child. Depending on how sick the child is, we administer the necessary medicine to make sure the child recuperates”. General Cevik…
In August 1947, the British departed from India after partitioning the country into two independent states. Two pillars of stability, the Indian Civil Service (ICS) and the Indian army were divided between the two countries with Pakistan inhering the north-western frontier of India and its associated tribal question. A tribal territory under British protection separated…
Not how well you see in a clear weather but how well you see in a foggy weather determines how better you are than others”. Mehmet Murat Ildan The failed coup of 15 July, 2016 was a watershed event of modern Turkish history. It was the final and unsuccessful attempt of a faction of the…
The introduction of every new major weapon requires reorganization of the army. The use of the machine gun in the First World War resulted in new organization. On the eve of the Great war, the British army had one machine gun section of two guns with each infantry and cavalry regiment. In October 1915 the…
