Word: kayani
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Many fear that Zardari's and Sharif's parties will revert to the vicious infighting that plagued Pakistan in the late 1980s and '90s. That was bad enough, but Pakistan has nuclear weapons now, and al-Qaeda is still picnicking in its backyard. The military, headed by General Ashfaq Kayani, has promised to stay out of politics, but if the situation deteriorates, it may be forced to intervene. "I don't think [Kayani] will let the country come apart," says Anthony Zinni, a retired four-star Marine general who from 1997 to 2000 headed the U.S. Central Command...
Whatever the military challenges, the U.S. Administration has continued its quiet cultivation of Kayani, who has acted more aggressively against insurgents in recent months, with full-scale aerial assaults. On Aug. 6 he launched a massive operation in Bajaur tribal agency, an insurgent-ridden area along the border. But the exercise was a lesson in being careful what you wish for. Pakistan's army was built to fight a conventional war with India and is ill equipped to handle violence at home. Three weeks of air strikes forced more than 260,000 residents to flee the region; many ended...
...That may be wishful thinking. Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, condemned the ground attack in a harshly worded statement released just hours after Mullen's statement, saying, "The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country will be defended at all costs." He said there is no question of any agreement or understanding with the American-led Coalition in Afghanistan in which it is allowed to conduct operations on the Pakistani side of the border and that the current trust deficit between the two countries would lead only to more problems. Pakistani tolerance is diminishing for civilian casualties inflicted...
...army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, he has done an admirable job of pulling the army out of politics. But the instinct will remain to focus on India as the main threat to Pakistan and to treat religious militants as "assets" for projecting Pakistani power. His challenge will be to recognize that the army helped create the terrorists who are now the country's biggest security risk, and to reverse the ambiguity that has characterized the military's commitment to confronting this menace...
...civilian government in Pakistan can rein in the ISI? [Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf] Gilani is a good man. He has the right intentions. I hope he gets the tools of control. Today, the army chief of Pakistan was in Afghanistan, at Bagram air-force base. I called [General Ashfaq] Kayani on the telephone to welcome him to my country, and to tell him that Afghanistan cannot achieve peace or prosperity without friendly relations with Pakistan. I hope he recognizes that what they are doing [in terms of supporting militancy in Afghanistan] is causing immense damage to Pakistan itself...