Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within- Book Event

Below are some thoughts about the Crossed Swords Book Event which was held 9/3/08 at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Shuja Nawaz, author of the recent book on Pakistan’s army Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within, presented today at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The book was hailed by the moderator, Ashley Tellis, a Senior Associate at Carnegie, as being an “even-handed and balanced” account from a “detached insider” perspective. Fellow panelist Polly Nayak also commented that the book was an “inside-out study” that thoroughly captured the complexities of the Pakistani army. Throughout the book, Nawaz makes very clear that the biggest political player in Pakistan is the army. He stated that the army accounts for over 40% of the budget and its large economic footprint on the Pakistani economy cannot go unnoticed. In Pakistani public opinion the army was once the most highly regarded institution, but has recently fallen to third behind the government and judiciary. During his presentation, he gave three explanations for why the army continues to have problems. First, he explained that the army is too strongly centralized in its command structure. The army devolves such little power down the chain of command that it in turn restricts their ability to make relevant strategy decisions at the local level. Secondly, on a similar note, there is very little delegation of power and it makes the chain of command less efficient. Thirdly, he explained that the army was stuck in a “zero-risk” mindset. During the Q&A session, an interesting question posed by Chris Chivvis from the RAND Corporation regarding the army’s perspective of the civilian government sparked some great panel discussion. Nawaz explained that as a result of the interviews he conducted with Pakistani army members that the predominate attitude was that it is appropriate to give the civilians “time and space” to run the government themselves in the immediate future. The thought was that no matter what happens the army will be there to protect Pakistan. However, moderator Tellis pointed out that there is a distinction to be drawn between giving the civilians “time and space” to run the government, and between the army giving them time and space to govern, but, in effect, still ruling the country (like it has done so many times in the past). Nawaz concluded by saying that before things can change for Pakistan and the army there has to be open and free dialog about its role in the country. Things cannot change unless discussion and debate are allowed to occur openly and without repercussions. Nawaz was clear to point out that history repeats itself and without change it is likely to do so in Pakistan again.