Iran and Pakistan

The respective policies of the governments of Iran and Pakistan pose serious challenges to US interests in the Middle East, Asia and beyond. These two regional powers, with a combined population of around 300 million, have been historically intertwined in various cultural, religious and political ways. Iran was the first country to recognise the emerging independent state of Pakistan in 1947 and the Shah of Iran was the first head of state to visit the new nation. While this relationship shifted following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and tensions do exist between Sunni Pakistan and Shii Iran, there has nevertheless been a history of cooperation between the two countries in fields that are of great strategic interest to the US: Afghanistan, nuclear proliferation and terrorism. Yet much of this history of cooperation, conflict and ongoing interactions remains unexplored. Alex Vatanka here presents the first comprehensive analysis of this long-standing and complex relationship.§Excellent..Vatanka offers timely insights into an important geopolitical relationship that is often overlooked but is critical to understanding some of the key elements that have contributed to relations between Iran, Pakistan and America -§David Patrikarakos, author of Nuclear Iran: The Birth of an Atomic State§In tracing the course of Iranian-Pakistani taut relations over nearly seven decades, Vantankas lively, thoroughly researched book threads together those personalities and events that have shaped two of the most challenging countries faced today by Western policy makers. The book provides for a sound understanding of areas of foreign policy and regional and global alliances that once figured so prominently in the Cold War and now in the fight against global militant extremism. The Shia-Sunni rivalry, regional nuclear proliferation, and the American dimension are also illuminated by this books wide-ranging, engrossing narrative. -§Marvin Weinbaum, Director of the Pakistan Center at Middle East Institute, Washington DC and Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign