Michael Hughes: Afghan-born Western cowboy Zalmay Khalilzad cannot refrain from meddling in Central and South Asian affairs, with his crosshairs now focused on Islamabad, amid former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s struggle against the country’s military. In a new interview with Dawn, he went so far as to suggest the country’s problems could ignite a war and “change the balance of power” in the region.
Khalilzad played the key role in establishing the Karzai puppet regime in Afghanistan and helped pave the road for the Taliban seizure of Kabul. Now he apparently wants to play kingmaker again and is pushing regime change in Pakistan from afar. Earlier this week, Khalilzad spread rumors that Pakistan was plotting to arrest Imran Khan’s wife, Bushra Begum, while imposing an “obscure” sedition law against him.