The Quetta Experience: Attitudes and Values within Pakistan’s Army

What do we know about members of the Pakistani Army? What are their values? What are their attitudes toward the United States and other key countries? How do they perceive internal and external threats? What are their thoughts on Pakistan’s political situation? What do they think about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program? How do these perspectives differ, if at all, within the Army and over time? A new Wilson Center study by David O. Smith offers a revealing window into the thinking of three groups of Pakistani Army officers—senior officers (brigadier and major generals); senior mid-level officers (lieutenant colonels and colonels); and junior mid-level officers (captains and majors)—who served at the Pakistan Army Command and Staff College in the city of Quetta between 1977 and 2014. The study is based on the experiences and observations of American military officers—including Smith himself—who attended the facility as students over that 37-year period. This event will mark the launch of Smith’s report. He wi