Madiha Afzal is a nonresident fellow in the Global Economy and Development program and in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. Her research lies at the intersection of development, security, and political economy, with a focus on Pakistan. She is also an adjunct assistant professor of Global Policy at Johns Hopkins SAIS. She previously worked as an assistant professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Afzal is the author of the new book Pakistan Under Siege: Extremism, Society, and the State, published by the Brookings Institution Press in January 2018 (the book was also published in South Asia and Afghanistan by Penguin India in March 2018). Afzal has published in Public Choice, and is the author of a USIP special report on Education and Attitudes in Pakistan, as well as several book chapters. Afzal writes regularly for Pakistani and international publications. She also consults for the World Bank, and has been a consultant for DFID and IFPRI. For her writing on education in Pakistan, she was named to Lo Spazio della Politica's list of Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2013. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University in 2008, specializing in Development Economics and Political Economy.
Madiha Afzal is a nonresident fellow in the Global Economy and Development program and in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. Her research lies at the intersection of development, security, and political economy, with a focus on Pakistan. She is also an adjunct assistant professor of Global Policy at Johns Hopkins SAIS. She previously worked as an assistant professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Afzal is the author of the new book Pakistan Under Siege: Extremism, Society, and the State, published by the Brookings Institution Press in January 2018 (the book was also published in South Asia and Afghanistan by Penguin India in March 2018). Afzal has published in Public Choice, and is the author of a USIP special report on Education and Attitudes in Pakistan, as well as several book chapters. Afzal writes regularly for Pakistani and international publications. She also consults for the World Bank, and has been a consultant for DFID and IFPRI. For her writing on education in Pakistan, she was named to Lo Spazio della Politica’s list of Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2013. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University in 2008, specializing in Development Economics and Political Economy.
"[Yet the PTI has the political capital to make a stand. It enjoys widespread support, credibility among Islamists, and unprecedented backing from the country’s most powerful institution, the army.] This was the time to push back."
Certain traits of [Imran Khan]—his lack of desire to conduct politics as usual, his stubbornness—will mean that should his relationship with the military sour or cool off, he might falter more quickly than politicians in the past, and more badly. But once in power, he could also adapt.
"[Pakistan's judiciary is an] all too willing pawn in the military's hands...I also think that it is in broad agreement with the military in its stance on Pakistan's politics."
No one, other than Sharif loyalists, doubts that [he] was corrupt...The question is whether he would be facing this had he appeased the military rather than taken it on, and the answer is probably not.
