Editors' foreword.

• Position: Editorial

Eight years after the attacks of 9/11 and the toppling of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Western leaders recognize that achieving success in Afghanistan--however that is defined--will require the support of its powerful neighbor Pakistan. This issue of the Journal of International Affairs brings together work from American and South Asian scholars and policy leaders to address the issues critical to stability and development in the region. For years, American leaders prioritized regional stability over democratic development, with limited success in achieving either. With thousands of NATO troops tied down in Afghanistan and thousands more Pakistani troops engaged in a civil war on their western border, both countries remain at the center of international debates over terrorism, democratization, state-building and counterinsurgency.

While Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to grapple with violent insurgencies, their civilian governments are working to consolidate the domestic support necessary for counterinsurgency and counterterrorism measures to succeed. Winning this domestic support, however, requires that governments achieve some success in improving the daily lives of their citizens. We therefore precede our considerable analysis of political and security issues with two articles that concern economics and the provision of government services in Pakistan.

Ishrat Husain opens this issue with an in-depth study of Pakistan's economic development through decades of instability under both military and civilian rule. He pays particular attention to Pakistan's evolving relationship with the United States and its effect on the major economic and political developments of recent years. Husain argues that despite a longstanding consensus on the pursuit of liberal economic policies, political volatility, particularly following transitions to military rule, has wreaked havoc on social and economic development in Pakistan.

Our second scholar, Andrew Wilder, posits that a wealthier Pakistani state may be of limited benefit unless the government and its international donors prioritize a politically astute public administration reform program. Wilder describes how the fundamental obstacles to reform in Pakistan are political in nature rather than gaps in understanding or technical expertise. The main challenge, he contends, is that those with the power to push for reform--namely the military, politicians and civil servants themselves--have...