Ayesha Khanna is a strategic advisor with over a decade of experience counseling CEOs on how to leverage technology, information and analytics to gain competitive advantage in global markets. She is a Partner at the management consulting firm Fitzgerald Analytics, and Director of Hybrid Realities, a research firm based in New York.
How Pakistan Can Fix Itself
By Ayesha Khanna and Parag Khanna
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari arrives in Washington this week at a tough time for his country. Gen. David Petraeus has stated that the next two weeks are crucial to Pakistan's survival, while counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen has claimed that the country could collapse within six months. Indeed, Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, Pakistan's Army chief of staff, could declare martial law imminently if his military's counteroffensives in the Swat region prove ineffective against the Taliban. But irrespective of whether the Army takes over yet again from civilian authority, Pakistan has been a failure for over a decade, and the essential prescriptions to restore the state apply to both the elected government and the military -- and preferably a coordinated effort between the two.