The Rise and Fall of Imran Khan and What's Next for Pakistan
Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters - A podcast by Global Dispatches
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan resigned on April 10th, following a no-confidence vote in Parliament. The former cricket star turned politician had served as Prime Minister since 2018, but in recent months he had increasingly fallen out of favor with Pakistan's powerful military establishment, which has long been a dominant force in Pakistani politics. My guest, Michael Kugelman, is Senior Associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center. We kick off discussing how Imran Khan leveraged his celebrity as one of the greatest cricket players of all time to a career in politics. We then discuss how he governed as Prime Minister and the circumstances that lead to his downfall. Finally, we have an in-depth conversation about how this political transition in Pakistan may impact US-Pakistani relations and regional dynamics between Pakistan, India and China.