Yesterday, with the collaboration of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) and The National Book Foundation (NBF), the launch ceremony of former Ambassador Asif Durrani’s book Turmoil: Events in Afghanistan, South Asia, Middle East, Ukraine and Pakistan was held at at IPRI, Islamabad. The book itself is published by the National Book Foundation. The book launch event was presided over by the author Ambassador Durrani and by the Managing Director of the NBF, Raja Mazhar Majeed.
In the opening ceremony, President IPRI Ambassador(R) DR Muhammad Raza, Ambassador(R) Tariq Usman Haider, Director Research IPRI Raashid Walli Janjua and others spoke about Durrani’s new work Turmoil and a number of students from different disciplines attended the launch ceremony.
Asif Durrani originally hails from Balochistan. He started his journalistic career with The Muslim newspaper and later passed the CSS exam. Durrani has been a career diplomat more than 25 years, who served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the UAE and Iran. In his early diplomatic career, he was posted to India, Afghanistan, the UK and at Pakistan Mission to the United Nations in New York. Durrani has a close relationship with writing and reading: the student of politics and journalism of this era must benefit from his knowledge and research. He has been one of the best diplomats of his era.
The book is a compilation of Durrani’s articles written over four years. The scheme of the book shows the author’s interest in the region, including global issues such as human rights, the Ukrainian crisis and American policies in areas such as South Asia and the Middle East. His book navigates through the evolving crises in different regions. It is not only the quality of the prognosis, but the remedies offered which make the work worth reading. Scholars and students of International Affairs, Political Science and Geostrategic Studies would find the book interesting and a valuable reference for research on issues of regional interest.
In this book, Ambassador(r) Durrani’s detailed analyses of the Ukrainian crisis have cleared many misconceptions about the US and NATO’s strategic competition with Russia. He describes the Russian attack on Ukraine as Russia’s “Cuban Missile moment.” Earlier, he published a detailed monologue on the Ukrainian crisis, which suggested options for developing countries. The monologue is available on IPRI’s website.
Although the bulk of the book deals with regional affairs, Pakistan’s domestic politics and its impact on the country’s foreign policy have been the focus of many articles in this section. Good governance and the rule of law, considered the focus of any developing country, have been highlighted in the articles – particularly in the section titled “National Issues.”
This fellow is pretty mediocre …. never considered cerebral at the FO. Was largely a failure as an ambassador. Pompous and self promoting.