Good enough review except for this last part by Richard Leiby
The shame is that Pakistanis are a pious, warm and hospitable people — at least the many I met during my year and a half there. Haqqani’s book would have greatly benefited from showing us some of them: Giving common people voice helps us know who they are, how they live and what they think.
They are not the enemy. Just like average Americans, they simply pay the price of their leaders’ magnificent mistakes.
Of course, he sure was fed kababas by "hospitable and warm" TSP RAPE, but I have seen this cliche, people are nice but leaders suck used so often, that it is a lazy attempt to not dig deeper into the truth. Like the prosecutor for Mir Amal Kansi (the guy who shot & killed CIA spooks a while back) said, TSPians will sell their mother for the right price.
In any system of govt, the leadership does indeed reflect the people at large. One simply cannot disassociate the sociological roots that link leadership & govt from people. It is because large swathes of TSPians, especially Pakijabis & Talibunnies have a Jihadi mindset that TSP is such a terrorist cesspool. We have documented many-a-times here on BR on the popularity that LeT enjoys in TSP Punjab. And giving them more voice is not the answer as Richard Leiby urges, rather they and their leadership must be brought to justice.
I am sure Richard Leiby will say the same thing about average Iranians. But that did not stop US govt from tightening the screws on the Iranian govt and its mullahs, so much so, that Iran has agreed to halt its nuke program (latest news). Why can't US do the same with TSP? Rhetorical question because we all on BR know why US won't do the same with TSP and no need for repetition.