The Invention of Pakistan

The terrorism with which we contend has its origins in Pakistan as much as in the Arab Middle East. Our friend Kapil Komireddi has returned from traveling inside Pakistan. Today in part 2 of his series, he tells how Pakistan's instability may be encoded in the state's very origins.

After the 9/11 attacks, thousands of Americans turned to the great historian of Islam Bernard Lewis for insight into the sources of the terrorists' rage. Lewis's account naturally emphasized the story of Arab and Turkish Islam, his supreme areas of expertise. As a result, South Asia tended to get rather short shrift.

Yet the terrorism with which we all contend has its origins as much in the failures of the invented state of Pakistan as in the Arab Middle East. Our friend Kapil Komireddi has returned from traveling inside Pakistan. Yesterday, he introduced us to the crisis in Pakistan. Today in part 2 of his series, he tells how Pakistan's instability may be encoded in the state's very origins.