Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

Things Are Going From Bad To Worse For

Juan Cole 10/17/2002

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

Things are going from bad to worse for the US in Pakistan. Now the Muttahida Majlis-i Amal or United Action Council, which groups six religious parties, is making a bid to actually form the national government in parliament. They put forward the firebrand pro-Taliban cleric Fazlur Rahman as potential prime minister. The MMA has pledged to end US FBI and military presence in Pakistan, and to stop the manhunt for al-Qaeda and Taliban remnants there.

As only the third largest party, the MMA is unlikely actually to be able to form the government. It may well, however, be in coalition with the Pakistan People’s Party or even the Muslim League (QA), and I suppose a rotation of prime ministerships could be worked out. The idea of a fanatic like Fazlur Rahman as the Prime Minister of a nuclear state that has serious frictions with India (another nuclear state) is pretty awful to contemplate. Likewise the idea of a pro-al-Qaeda government in Pakistan is terrifying.

One danger, to which the Pakistani press is alert, is that the MMA will get too powerful and go too far, forcing another military coup and possibly throwing the country into Algeria-style turmoil.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Are Cyberattacks and Iran's Port Explosion the First Salvo in Disrupting U.S.-Iran Nuclear Talks?
  • Even as it Strikes Deals with Trump, the Gulf Embraces Chinese Tech Giants
  • Removing Syria Sanctions is a Win for the People, Whatever Trump's Motives
  • Donald Trump's Feverish Lust for Green Energy Resources isn't about the Climate
  • Can we Even Remember it? How America was Disappeared before our Eyes

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved