The five years between 2001 and 2006 were momentous years in the history of Pakistan, the United States and the Greater Middle East. This book chronicles some of the major events that took place during this period. This book is not just about the beginning of a century but about the beginning of history.

Human conflict is the common thread running throughout the book. This conflict did not spring anew in the new century. The seeds had been sown in pdor conflicts. But the way iii which the conflict evolved was unique and disturbing.

Pakistan, which had alternated between democracy and state racy for its half decade of existence, succumbed once again to the latter. But what loomed most menacingly over it were not the usual threats to civil liberties posed by militarism. It was the spectre of a “final conflict” with India brought on by misguided “jihadis” who had been reared by the military to fight external proxy wars in Afghanistan and Kashmir. In addition, there was the reality of ongoing domestic conflicts along the nation’s multiple fault lines.

America, which adopted the mantle of global hyper power after the fall and splintering of its erstwhile nemesis, the Soviet Union, was hit by a band of jihadis early on the morning of September ii, 2001. In a fit of rage, it launched a war on Afghanistan for which there was much global sympathy. But the subsequent decision to launch a war on Iraq and remake the Greater Middle East In its image was misguided. The human and financial cost of the conflict was enormous but even that was overshadowed by the loss of its image on the global stage. Its actions represented a classic case of strategic overreach.