Mailing address
One Brattle Square 510
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
79 John F. Kennedy Street, Mailbox 134
Cambridge, MA, 02138
Website
Hassan Abbas
Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
Contact:
Telephone: 508-308-0576
Fax: 617-496-0606
Email: hassan_abbas@ksg.harvard.edu
Website: http://www.watandost.blogspot.com/
Experience
Dr. Hassan Abbas is a Research Fellow at the Belfer Center's Project on Managing the Atom and International Security Program. He also received his Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. His research interests are Pakistan's nuclear program and the Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan controversy; religious extremism in South and Central Asia, and “Islam and the West."
He has an LL.M. in International Law from Nottingham University, UK, where he was a Britannia Chevening Scholar (1999). He also remained a visiting fellow at the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School (2002–2003) and later continued at the Program on Negotiation at HLS as a visiting scholar (2003–2004).
He is a former Pakistani government official who served in the administrations of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (1995–1996) and President Pervez Musharraf (1999–2000). His latest book, Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army and America's War on Terror (M.E. Sharpe) has been on bestseller lists in India and Pakistan and widely reviewed internationally including the New York Times, Boston Globe, Far Eastern Economic Review, The Hindu, Dawn, etc. He has also appeared as an analyst on CNN, MSNBC, and PBS, and as a political commentator on VOA and BBC. His forthcoming book is titled: "Sovereignty Belongs to Allah": Constitutionalism and Human Rights in the Islamic States. He runs Watandost, which is a blog on Pakistan-related affairs.
AP Photo
January 7, 2008
"South Asia at War"
Op-Ed, Guatemala Times
By Hassan Abbas, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
"Last month's terrorist assault in Mumbai targeted not only India's economy and sense of security. Its broader goal was to smash the India-Pakistan détente that has been taking shape since 2004. The attackers did not hide their faces or blow themselves up with suicide jackets. Anonymity was not their goal. They wanted to be identified as defenders of a cause. Unless this cause is fully understood, and its roots revealed across the region, this attack may prove to be the beginning of the unmaking of South Asia."
AP Photo
December 7, 2008
"Beyond the Line of Control"
Op-Ed, News International, (Pakistan)
By Hassan Abbas, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
Naomi Klein, Canadian columnist and author of The Shock Doctrine insightfully says, "Terrorism doesn't just blow up buildings; it blasts every other issue off the political map. The spectre of terrorism — real and exaggerated — has become a shield of impunity, protecting governments around the world from scrutiny for their human rights abuses." South Asia today is a victim of terror in this context. Social injustice, political instability, religious fanaticism and a rising sense of insecurity are the factors pushing South Asians to the brink of a prolonged conflict.
AP Photo
December 3, 2008
"Mumbai Attacks: Motivations, Context and Consequences"
Op-Ed, New York Times, Times Topic Blog
By Hassan Abbas, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
Hassan Abbas, a research fellow with the Project on Managing the Atom at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center, comments on the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
November 2008
Partnership for Progress
Report
By Xenia Dormandy, Senior Associate, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Hassan Abbas, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
The Belfer Center's Xenia Dormandy and Hassan Abbas participated in a working group on the state of Pakistan convened by the Center for American Progress. The resulting report proposes strategies for enhanced security, democratization, and economic growth.
AP Photo
September 2008
"From FATA to the NWFP: The Taliban Spread Their Grip in Pakistan"
Journal Article, CTC Sentinel, issue 10, volume 1
By Hassan Abbas, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
"...Any effort to stem the tide of extremism in the NWFP first requires a dispassionate analysis of the ground realities. This article attempts to examine such indicators, by explaining how the Taliban have managed to spread their influence from FATA into the NWFP, and will present some ideas on how to reverse extremist trends...."
AP Photo
September 16, 2008
"Pakistan: Counter-terror Policy is in Disarray"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Oxford Analytica
By Hassan Abbas, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
"A cross-border raid by US ground forces, together with media claims that US President George Bush had authorised Special Operations troops to conduct such operations without seeking permission from Islamabad, has provoked anger from Pakistan's politicians, media and army. Pakistan's counter-terrorism policy may suffer as US-Pakistan relations deteriorate."
AP Photo
August 27, 2008
"Après Musharraf, Patience"
Op-Ed, Interntional Herald Tribune
By Hassan Abbas, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
"...The notion that somehow developing countries, and especially Muslim-majority states, cannot adjust to democratic model is a flawed assessment. The track record of democratic governments in Pakistan is indeed mixed, but it is also true that democracy takes time to develop....Western governments, primarily the United States and Britain, have shown far more patience with dictators than with elected leaders. Periods of military rule in Pakistan — 1958–69; 1977–88; 1999–2008 — lasted an average of 10 years, while democratic phases lasted an average of less than three years and were often declared to be unstable, corrupt and weak. Foreign aid also declined during the democratic periods...."
August 19, 2008
Analysis: Pervez Musharraf's Resignation and the Impact on Pakistan
Media Feature
By Hassan Abbas, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
In this exclusive web video, Hassan Abbas, a research fellow at the Belfer Center's Project on Managing the Atom, offers commentary on the resignation of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf.
AP Photo
August 13, 2008
"Solving FATA"
Op-Ed, The National Interest
By Hassan Abbas, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
"The growing Taliban insurgency in the Afghan-Pakistan border area increasingly threatens the geography of the region. Continuation of this crisis could derail the India-Pakistan peace process, undermine democratic gains in Pakistan as well as Afghanistan, and jeopardize U.S. interests in the region.
Despite the explosive nature of the crisis and apparent consensus between the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees about the need for additional focus on the area—as well as military forces there—the popular analysis of the situation often fails to appreciate the very basic facts of the issue...."
AP Photo
August 12, 2008
"Musharraf's Long Goodbye"
Op-Ed, The Guardian, Comment is Free...
By Hassan Abbas, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
"...Any attempt by Musharraf to dislodge the government by using his constitutional authority would trigger another election, the results of which would not be much different from the vote in February. It is time for Musharraf's friends in the west to press him to serve his country one last time, by avoiding confrontation with his country's democratic forces and calling it quits."
