Bruce Riedel led a review of US policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan in the early days of President Barack Obama’s administration. A former CIA officer and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Riedel spoke to Ashish Kumar Sen, and discussed developments in Pakistan. Excerpts:
On the possibility of a coup: We are seeing the gradual development of Pakistan’s fifth military dictatorship. It will be different from the first four. There will probably be no coup, nor a single dictator. Rather, the corps commanders are taking control behind the scenes of all major decisions. A civilian regime will survive, but only as a cosmetic cover to army rule.