Tag: Pakistan

Powerful western nations have “no incentive” to stop corruption in the global south because they are “benefiting from money stolen from our countries”, Imran Khan has said. Pakistan’s former prime minister made the claim in an interview given while still in office for a documentary coming out next month. Khan was forced to step down […]

Andy Skrzypkowiak was filming the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan for the BBC when he went missing in October 1987. The 36-year-old SAS veteran, raised in Britain by Polish parents, was later pronounced dead. His skull had been crushed with a rock as he slept. He left behind a wife and young daughter. The killers […]

When Osama Bin Laden fled Afghanistan after 9/11, an old friend helped him escape the US manhunt. Yunus Khales, the veteran commander of Afghan mujahideen group Hezbi Islami (Islamic Party), had long supported Al Qaeda’s leader.  In 1996, when Bin Laden was expelled from Sudan, it was Khales who welcomed him to Afghanistan, giving him […]

“Controversial depends on your point of view, really. There are plenty of high-level political viewpoints that would say that it’s not.” Major General Roddy Porter has just bought us a coffee and is telling us why the world’s largest arms fair – being held in the heart of London – isn’t controversial, despite being opposed […]

Last week, British foreign secretary Dominic Raab made his first trip to Pakistan after the botched withdrawal of troops and civilians from neighbouring Afghanistan in August. Raab described Pakistan as a “vital partner” as he sought with his Pakistani counterpart to “prevent Afghanistan becoming a hub for terrorist groups.” Yet known to the British Foreign […]

In 1980, journalist John Fullerton sat down for lunch in London with members of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), better known as MI6. The spooks asked the restless reporter to name five cities where he would like to work. He scrawled the answers unhesitatingly on a paper napkin. “The top one was Peshawar in Pakistan,” […]

The United Kingdom is fighting at least seven covert wars