A strategic re-evaluation of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship is in order, concludes Sahar Khan, Ph.D., in her policy analysis, “Double Game: Why Pakistan Supports Militants and Resists U.S. Pressure to Stop.”
A 2006 Ohio Wesleyan University graduate, Khan currently serves as an adjunct scholar in the Defense and Foreign Policy Department for the Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute. Founded in 1977, the nonpartisan organization is “dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace.”
During her Ohio Wesleyan visit, Khan will present “America, Pakistan, and the War on Terrorism” at 7 PM September 18 in Benes Room B of the university’s Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware.
“The only way the Trump administration can have a positive relationship with Pakistan,” Khan states in her essay, “is to recognize the futility of pressuring Pakistan to stop funding militants and partner with Islamabad on terms it can accommodate.”
Examples of shared interests, she states, include protecting Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal from militant groups and finding a feasible and lasting end to the war in Afghanistan.
An international studies, economics, and politics and government triple-major at Ohio Wesleyan, Khan went on to earn her master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago and her doctorate in political science from the University of California, Irvine.
Her dissertation explored state motivations for sponsoring militant groups and the role civil institutions play in state-sponsorship within Pakistan. Before beginning her doctorate, Khan served as associate editor of The Washington Quarterly for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Khan’s current research interests include militancy, counterterrorism policies, anti-terrorism legal regimes, South Asia, Middle East, and U.S. national security. Follow her on social media at @khansahar1.
Her free, public talk is Ohio Wesleyan’s 17th Annual Corinne Lyman Lecture on International Studies and part of the university’s 2019-2020 Sagan National Colloquium, “OWU: Our World Needs You.”
The Lyman Lecture Series is named in honor of Corinne Lyman, a retired OWU professor of politics and government. She created Ohio Wesleyan’s International Studies Program and chaired it until retiring in 1999. Learn more about the program at www.owu.edu/internationalstudies.
Now in its 35th year, Ohio Wesleyan’s Sagan National Colloquium previously has featured social activist Gloria Steinem, authors Barbara Ehrenreich and Kurt Vonnegut, Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams, and former President Gerald Ford as speakers. Learn more at www.owu.edu/snc.
