Naval War College Review

Volume 60
Article 13
Number 1 Winter

2007

Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military

Amer Latif

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Recommended Citation
Latif, Amer (2007) "Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military," Naval War College Review: Vol. 60 : No. 1 , Article 13.
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Latif: Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military

144 NAVAL WAR COLLEGE REVIEW

strategic thought, in both academe and relations from the viewpoint of a neo-
the policy world. The second chapter classical realist. The middle chapter, on
addresses both the strengths and weak- strategic culture, is the most daring,
nesses of “new security” thinking in ac- and in some respects the most disap-
ademe in the 1990s. This chapter could pointing. Gray attempts to make a very
be of particular value to political scien- complex argument regarding the defini-
tists and international relations tion of strategic culture, but much of
specialists. the chapter is focused on a debate with
The third, fourth, and fifth chapters of Iain Johnston, which readers unfamiliar
this section should be required reading with this literature may find particu-
for the modern war fighter and other larly daunting. This unusual chapter,
practitioners. These sections focus on however, does not detract from the
the importance of seapower and mari- overall value of the volume, which is
time strategy, on the enormous com- excellent not only as an introduction to
plexities involved in making strategy, those unfamiliar with the study of strat-
and on the paradoxes inherent in the egy but also as a useful addition to the
principles of war and in efforts to adapt libraries of practitioners, academics,
them to the changing international en- and military officers.
vironment. Gray notes that the princi- TIMOTHY D. HOYT

ples of war are actually principles of Naval War College

warfare—intimately connected with the
tactical and operational levels of war
but remote from the fundamental issue
of waging war to achieve political ends.
Haqqani, Husain. Pakistan: Between Mosque and
The second and third sections do not
Military. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endow-
quite achieve the high standards of the
ment for International Peace, 2005. 380pp.
first. The second section’s focus on nu- $17.95
clear strategy, on the RMA debate, and
Five years into the U.S.-led global war
on arms control may seem antiquated
on terror, Pakistan remains a corner-
to today’s reader. Nevertheless, the no-
stone of U.S. strategy in defeating the
tions that the RMA debate failed to
Taliban and rooting out al-Qa‘ida. De-
consider adversary responses to Ameri-
spite the importance of Pakistan, it is a
can technological superiority and that
country that poses challenges for the
arms control “is as likely to fuel politi-
United States. A key challenge is the
cal antagonism as prevent or alleviate
dominant role of the military, which
it” still have relevance to policy today.
seeks to balance its commitments as a
The third section’s first chapter notes
valuable U.S. partner with its role as
the salient impact of geography on
a guardian of the country’s Islamic
strategy—an obvious point, perhaps,
identity through its close relationship
but one exemplified most recently by
with Pakistan’s religious establishment.
the problems of carrying out a counter-
How Pakistan manages these commit-
insurgency campaign in an Iraq with
ments has serious implications for U.S.
insecure land borders on all sides. The
policy. Fortunately, Husain Haqqani
third chapter is a laudable effort to ex-
plain morality and ethics in international

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Naval War College Review, Vol. 60 [2007], No. 1, Art. 13

BOOK REVIEWS 145

has come to our aid to help us under- in the 1970s, began the cynical employ-
stand this complex political dynamic. ment of Islam in politics by attempting
Haqqani has an insider’s view of Paki- to cross it with socialism. It was Bhutto’s
stani politics, having served as an ad- courting of the Muslim clergy with “Is-
viser to three prime ministers, a lamic socialism” that opened the door
diplomat, a political commentator, and into politics for Pakistan’s religious
a scholar of South Asian politics at the establishment.
Carnegie Endowment for International Bhutto was overthrown in 1977 by Gen-
Peace. This experience well qualifies eral Zia ul-Haq, a man of strong religious
him to guide the reader through the convictions. During his eleven-year rule
complex and, at times, confusing rela- he transformed Pakistan’s identity
tionship between the Pakistan military, through a campaign of Islamization of
the civil bureaucracy, and the religious law and society. This process extended
establishment. throughout the military and spread to
Haqqani chronicles the early struggles the Inter-Service Intelligence Director-
for Pakistan’s formation and makes a ate, which came to be dominated by of-
convincing case that the lack of a clear ficers who believed in Zia’s aims. The
vision for Pakistan’s identity in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan provided
early period of independence opened Zia an opportunity to support selected
the door for the military, the civil bu- mujaheddin groups fighting the Soviets,
reaucracy, and Islamic ideologues to as long as they aligned with Zia’s reli-
play dominant roles in Pakistan’s politi- gious views and vision for Afghanistan.
cal culture. The largely secular ruling By the time Zia died in an unexplained
establishment acknowledged Islam as plane crash in 1988, Pakistan had, ac-
the symbol of unity but did not define cording to Haqqani, changed to an
how Islam would manifest itself within “ideological state guided by a praeto-
society. What were the limits (if any) rian military.” The centers of power
on religion in politics? How would rela- were by now heavily Islamized, through
tions between Muslims and other reli- the influence of the religious establish-
gious groups be managed if Islam was ment within the civil bureaucracy and
the defining idea of Pakistan? Whose the military.
interpretation of Islam would dominate Haqqani argues that civilian leaders like
the new country? Questions such as Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif could
these were never confronted; the new not reverse the Islamization of Paki-
leadership was too preoccupied with stani politics. Instead, both of these
others, such as establishing a govern- leaders tried to coexist with a military
ment, developing an economy, raising heavily influenced by the religious es-
an army, and developing a civil tablishment. Both leaders failed, be-
bureaucracy. cause they eventually ran afoul of the
Haqqani explains how the inability of influential military establishment that
Pakistan’s founders to delineate Islam’s believed they threatened its position of
place in society turned the faith into a power.
political tool for successive military and As he skillfully explains these dynamics,
civilian leaders. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pa- Haqqani also weaves in their effect on
kistan’s secular civilian prime minister the United States–Pakistan relationship.

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Latif: Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military

146 NAVAL WAR COLLEGE REVIEW

During the first decade after its chaotic implications of this relationship for Pa-
birth, Pakistan sought to form a strate- kistan’s future.
gic alliance with the United States. The
AMER LATIF
bilateral relationship during the Cold Office of the Secretary of Defense
War was based on U.S. interest in a Director, South Asian Affairs
strong anti-Soviet ally in Asia and Paki-
stan’s desire for backing against India.
This incongruence set up the two coun-
tries for misperceptions and unfulfilled
expectations that have lasted to the Brown, Malcolm, ed. T. E. Lawrence in War and
present day. Peace: An Anthology of the Military Writings of
Lawrence of Arabia. London: Greenhill, 2005.
The relationship was further compli- 320pp. $39.95
cated in the period after the Cold War
as U.S.-Pakistan ties frayed over Paki- This is a timely book. It is a collection
stan’s nuclear weapons program and of rarely read wartime reports and post–
the Soviet threat disappeared. As the World War I articles that wrestle with
United States began to scrutinize Paki- the consequences of war and were writ-
stan more closely for democratic prac- ten by the British officer T. E. Lawrence,
tices and nuclear proliferation, the otherwise known as Lawrence of Ara-
pro-American tilt within the Pakistani bia, one of the greatest theoreticians
military began to wane. A series of per- and practitioners of modern guerrilla
ceived slights (such as Washington’s re- warfare.
fusal to deliver F-16 aircraft after Lawrence, of course, is best known for
Pakistan had paid for them) and the ef- his book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom,
fective cessation of the bilateral military which describes the British-inspired-
relationship contributed to this collec- and-supported Arab revolt against their
tive attitude. Although the terrorist at- Ottoman suzerain. Lawrence is back in
tacks of 11 September 2001 resurrected vogue again, which is not surprising
the relationship, it remains to be seen given the involvement of the United
whether the current bilateral coopera- States in a seemingly intractable and
tion can be sustained for the long term, protracted insurgency in Iraq. Many of-
given the various pressures that the cur- ficers, officials, and academics are turn-
rent president, General Pervez Musharraf, ing to The Seven Pillars of Wisdom for
is facing. nuggets of information about insur-
Haqqani ends the book with a chapter gency warfare, or, indeed, about the
that summarizes his findings and offers Arabs themselves. In his foreword, Pro-
suggestions for U.S. policy. Although fessor Michael Clarke of King’s College
his diagnosis of U.S. policy toward Pa- London says that the book “has become
kistan is sound, we would benefit from an oft-consulted work among military
a bit more detail about some of his pol- officers presently struggling with the at-
icy proposals. That is a minor short- tempt to create order in Iraq.” The
coming; Haqqani has provided an Seven Pillars of Wisdom is wonderful
excellent work on understanding the prose, but as Malcolm Brown puts it,
nexus between Pakistan’s religious es- the work is “no pushover even for the
tablishment and military, and on the most adept of skim-readers.” It is in

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