Coercive diplomacy
PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN relations have been on a downward trajectory. They plunged to a new low earlier this month when Pakistan carried out air strikes on hideouts of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan…
Targeting militant sanctuaries
THE long-simmering tension between the two countries now threatens to escalate into a full-blown conflict after Pakistan’s latest air strike on militant sanctuaries inside Afghanistan. The Afghan Taliban regime claims to have…
Imran Khan’s resurrection
LIBERAL commentators, once maligned by Imran Khan as “liberal scum” and “bloody liberals”, have nevertheless been fair-minded and have rightly criticised the Feb 8 elections as heavily managed. They are…
Persisting TTP threat
THE prevailing political and economic instability in the country offers perfect conditions for terrorist networks to grow and strengthen themselves. As persisting political turmoil dominates the mainstream discourse, terrorist groups…
Why the TTP is undefeatable
AS the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) ramp up their murderous attacks on Pakistani soldiers, ISI officers, police, and ordinary citizens, the men who run Pakistan’s security establishment are trotting out the…
Reviewing CT strategy
THERE was nothing in the communiqué issued after the latest National Security Committee meeting that we have not heard before. Phrases like ‘zero tolerance for terrorism’ and ‘violence will be dealt with,…
Let’s make history
PAKISTAN marked a historic moment for polio eradication a year ago today. On Jan 27, 2022, for the first time, we clocked in a year without polio paralysing a child.…
Terror nexus in Afghanistan
THE attack on the Pakistan embassy in Kabul last week raises questions about the Taliban administration’s capacity and resolve to fight terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil. The shooting that…
War of narratives
WITH support from the National Counter Terrorism Authority, the Islamic Research Institute (IRI) of the International Islamic University launched a ‘national narrative’ in January 2018, that had the endorsement of…
Removing ambiguity
EARLIER this month, an American drone struck a house in Kabul, killing the head of Al Qaeda, a UN-designated terrorist organisation. The chatter within the international community centred on how…
