Madiha Afzal is a visiting fellow in the Foreign Policy and Global Economy and Development program at Brookings. Her research lies at the intersection of development, security, and political economy, with a focus on Pakistan. She previously worked as an assistant professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Afzal is the author of Pakistan Under Siege: Extremism, Society, and the State, published by the Brookings Institution Press in 2018 (the book was also published in South Asia and Afghanistan by Penguin India). Afzal has also 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. She has written for Pakistani and international publications including Dawn, The Cairo Review, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, Newsweek, etc. She is regularly interviewed by media outlets, including BBC, NPR, and VOA. In addition, she consults for various organizations, including the World Bank, USAID, 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. Afzal received her Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University in 2008, specializing in Development Economics and Political Economy.
Madiha Afzal is a visiting fellow in the Foreign Policy and Global Economy and Development program at Brookings. Her research lies at the intersection of development, security, and political economy, with a focus on Pakistan. She previously worked as an assistant professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Afzal is the author of Pakistan Under Siege: Extremism, Society, and the State, published by the Brookings Institution Press in 2018 (the book was also published in South Asia and Afghanistan by Penguin India). Afzal has also 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. She has written for Pakistani and international publications including Dawn, The Cairo Review, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, Newsweek, etc. She is regularly interviewed by media outlets, including BBC, NPR, and VOA. In addition, she consults for various organizations, including the World Bank, USAID, 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. Afzal received her Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University in 2008, specializing in Development Economics and Political Economy.
This is a real test. Domestically, [the escalation of violence with India] is the first crisis of his administration. I feel that he is passing the test right now....the ball is in (India Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's court. Khan says Pakistan is done—it would take further action from India to re-escalate (violence).
Pakistan’s main extremist challenge in 2019 and beyond is no longer a violent insurgency waged by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, as it was a few years ago. Indeed, Pakistan’s new extremists are hardliners who do not (yet) engage in mass-casualty terrorist attacks, but in massive, disruptive protests over the issue of blasphemy. Over the last few years, they have been emboldened by the state’s lack of enforcement against them and the failure to publicly provide a credible counter-narrative.The fight against these extremists, more than any other, will define whether Pakistan changes course for the better.
[On Pakistan's outreach to India and Lashkar-e-Taiba] This is an easy win for both Khan and the army. And one they can both agree on without changing the army’s fundamentals vis-a-vis India.
