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Dangerous liaisons

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 precipitated a large influx of Afghans into Pakistan, mainly from the Kabul elite, the affluent bought up residential homes and even small businesses,…

The Davos Challenge

The Davos challenge

The grave misconception that Davos is only a rich man's club is sheer nonsense. A unique once-a-year opportunity, Davos brings together the world's most prominent politicians, Heads of State and/or…

Radical Machiavellianism

Radical Machiavellianism

Three years after Alexander the Great aborted his invasion of South Asia east of the Indus around 321 BC, Hindu philosopher, economist and jurist named Chanakhya (also called Kautilya) wrote…

Deconstructing regulation

The negative influence of social media on public life and government led to the enactment of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) in 2016. This too was severely criticised…

Trump and Pakistan

With Donald Trump assuming the presidency, the world order appears to be undergoing a seismic shift, with the US dismantling its foreign interference apparatuses – such as USAID – while…

Regressive decision

AS I write this, 170 million Americans are wondering whether their TikTok apps will go dark, with many scrambling to retain access through VPNs. It is easy to dismiss news…

Reconsidering our regional policy

Pakistan needs to recraft a regional policy rooted in strategic realities at the regional and global levels and is cognisant of its short- and long-term political, security, economic and cultural…

The lethal troika

MANY factors were responsible for the defeat of the erstwhile Soviet Union and then the US in Afghanistan. A common factor was the existence of a combination of extremely resilient…

The fanfare and hullabaloo

Opposition parties have slammed India’s ban on a new BBC documentary about the Gujarat pogroms of 2002, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the new chief minister of the state, having won his laurels…

Prioritising youth

FOR the last decade or so, development economists have been sounding the alarm about Pakistan’s youth demographic, saying that if not leveraged as an opportunity, it could turn into a…