The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State

by Declan Walsh

Imam sat dejectedly on the ground, eyes downcast. Hakimullah turned to the camera, and delivered a speech in the firm, undulating manner of a court prosecutor. Imam and other men like him in the Pakistani military had betrayed the mujahideen, he charged. They took money from Osama bin Laden in the 1980s but reneged on their promise to turn Pakistan into a true Islamic state. After 2001, they committed the greatest sin of all: selling out to the Americans. Hakimullah’s voice rose, swelling with righteous indigation. He jerked a thumb at Imam. ‘He cheated the people,’ he said. ‘He cheated the people who gave him honour, respect and blood. He is a traitor.’ It was an unsophisticated speech that offered a searing repudiation of Pakistani policy. Once, men like Colonel Imam had been welcomed to the tribal belt by fighters sought to repel unwanted foreigners. But the new generation, indoctrinated and tutored by al Qaeda, had bigger goals. They dreamed of overthrowing the Pakistani state and establishing a global caliphate.