The title of this piece comes from a book I have just finished reading, “The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001–2014”, authored by Ms Carlotta Gall. My appreciation goes to Ms Gall for operating in extremely dangerous places in both countries with disregard for her personal safety, interacting with unpredictably hostile people to gather intricate tactical details, maintaining useful contacts with US military and intelligence services, diplomats, anti-Taliban and anti-Pakistan elements in Afghanistan, and, finally, maintaining effective sources of information and facilitation in Pakistan.

Nevertheless, had it not been for the minor mishandling of her photographer by someone at a Quetta hotel just before her departure, perhaps the anti-Pakistan twist she gave to most of the details she had gathered so strenuously could have been less poisonous and more logical, serving American interests rather than scapegoating Pakistan’s ISI and military leadership. Again, instead of accusing her of intellectual dishonesty, I give her allowance for missing the bigger picture due to her overindulgence in collecting clever details, as expected of an investigative journalist. However, that makes her look like a sniffer instead of someone determined to write a book, unfortunately containing some controversial assertions and flawed conclusions.

Not to forget, she gave the title to her book based on a statement attributed to the late Mr Richard Holbrooke, SRAP........

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