By Syeda Farheen Naqi Mossavi 

The ghost of 1986 and the geography of confrontation

HAFIZABAD, Pakistan - The year was 1986. The Cold War divided the world, and Ronald Reagan occupied the White House. On April 15th, American warplanes struck targets in Tripoli and Benghazi in Operation El Dorado Canyon. The official reason was retaliation for the La Belle discotheque bombing in West Berlin, an attack attributed to Libyan agents. The strikes lasted barely 12 minutes, but the repercussions rippled for decades.