You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Significantly, the book opens in 2013 during the election between Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan, which indicates Walsh’s focus on the history of political tensions and how Pakistan didn’t want a similar ‘blood-soaked independence of 1947’ (pg xviii). Member countries should be realistic about what a new WTO director-general can actually accomplish, beyond a formal facilitating role. Over the course of the life stories of these colorful Pakistanis, Walsh manages to provide a systematic examination of the many dramatic events that unfolded during his nine-year tenure.

Even though I have read hundreds of books about Pakistan, Walsh provided me with insights and details I did not know.Much evidence suggests that Pakistan’s generals have not renounced their ardor for the Islamist proxy fighters who have wreaked so much havoc. Written in the aftermath of Walsh’s abrupt deportation, The Nine Lives of Pakistan concludes with an astonishing encounter with that agent, and his revelations about Pakistan’s powerful security state. And the rivalry with India, which has driven that policy for decades, has only gotten worse, in part as a result of the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi.

It says a lot about Pakistan’s bloody history that only one of the nine subjects is still alive by the end of the book. Fits in well with my own experience of living and working there, reading about the history and meeting several of the senior people mentioned. At the close of the book, there are elements of resolution for him, however, Walsh still misses a country that he spent over a decade reporting from. Overhearing a group of men discussing the logistics of grabbing Walsh, the rental man bundled the Irish journalist into the vehicle and sped away. An irresistible combination of storytelling panache and in-depth knowledge; Declan Walsh brings vividly to life characters and situations that illuminate some of the most significant phases of Pakistan's history.The British Empire and colonialism are also explored in books such as Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics by Tim Marshall (2015) (which has a chapter dedicated to India and Pakistan) and Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain by Satnam Sanghera (2021).