Since 1973, seven out of the past nine Afghan Presidents have taken power in Kabul in non-peaceful ways. Steve Coll talks with former Afghan Defense Minister and leader of a coup against his President, Shahnawaz Tanai, and discovers “some of the texture— the human quality— of an attempted Afghan coup d’etat”: http://nyr.kr/TuTBLg

Photograph by Robert Nickelsberg/Time Life Pictures/Getty.

Basharat Peer on the shooting of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl who wanted to go to school: http://nyr.kr/UHoCxw

Photograph: AP.

“Don’t Angry Me”: Mohsin Hamid on the riots in Lahore: 

The protests … gathered force. Two people had already died. In today’s Pakistan, tragically, this is not uncommon. But there was a sense that things would intensify. Like weather channels giddy on the news of a menacing tropical depression, the local media reported an increase of emotional wind speed. Shouting politicians announced the formation of a telltale eye at the center of an anti-anti-Islam-film hurricane. It would, all agreed, make landfall on Friday, after the weekly communal prayer.

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Riot police in Lahore, on September 19, 2012. Photograph by Arif Ali/AFP/Getty.

…Like no other rock musician—perhaps since the early Bob Dylan—Springsteen builds a wall of friendship and shared longing for American society to come together instead of splintering apart, as it is doing. He temporarily bridges the generation gap, the class divide, and the wealth gap. In other words, his music builds communities of people who want to realize their responsibility to each other. There are several Pakistani pop singers, such as Ali Zafar or Atif Aslam, who could aspire to play such a role if there were the opportunities, the venues, and the support from the state and society.

Ahmed Rashid writes about Pakistan, Bruce Springsteen, and building communities through culture: http://nyr.kr/NSw2HT

(Photograph by Julian Broad.)

This week, Steve Coll writes about the challenges facing the U.S. and Pakistan in the wake of the floods. Coll will take questions from readers today at 3 PM ET, or you may leave a question for him now. An excerpt from his piece:

“So far, the Obama Administration has displayed all the right instincts, by rushing relief to civilians, affirming the primacy of the country’s elected leaders, and galvanizing other governments to pitch in. As the waters recede, and the immediate crisis passes, however, the challenge will be to muster international investment to repair Pakistan’s infrastructure and catalyze its economic recovery.”