https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2008/09/15/pakistan-its-not-iraq/feed/PJ Media is a leading news site covering culture, politics, faith, homeland security, and more. Our reporters and columnists provide original, in-depth analysis from a variety of perspectives.en-usWed, 10 Jun 2026 06:42:58 -0400<![CDATA[When faced with a particularly hard problem it is sometimes easier to imagine a solution and work your way backwards, traveling the goal back to the starting point. Imagine that that the US wanted to mount a &#8220;Surge&#8221; in the Afghanistan/Pakistan theater, who would the Surge be built around? If walking the cat back from that solution sounds too hard; let&#8217;s try something easier. Imagine that the US expanded the war in Afghanistan to include Pakistan &#8212; who would be there to greet US troops in the same way they were greeted upon entering Baghdad &#8212; who would our allies be? Maybe the problem begins with terminology itself. Christopher Hitchens notes that &#8220;The very name Pakistan inscribes the nature of the problem. It is not a real country or nation but an acronym devised in the 1930s by a Muslim propagandist for partition named Chaudhary Rahmat Ali. It stands for Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, and Indus-Sind. The stan suffix merely means &#8216;land.'&#8221;]]>Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:20:12 -0400<![CDATA[Richard Fernandez]]>https://pjmedia.com/richard-fernandez/2008/09/15/pakistan-its-not-iraq-n186088