China’s Executive Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang Meets Yunus

Afghanistan’s Trade Boycott: Strategic Miscalculation With Fiscal Consequences

Semavia Ishtiaq December 11, 2025

Afghanistan’s 2025 trade boycott of Pakistan exposes a strategic miscalculation. Despite efforts to shift toward Iran and Central Asia, Kabul remains structurally dependent on Pakistan’s mature trade corridors, customs revenue, labour mobility, and logistical efficiency. Alternative routes carry higher costs, sanctions risks, and operational delays, leaving the Taliban with mounting fiscal losses and regional constraints.

The Defund Taliban Campaign

SAT Commentary December 11, 2025

The Defund Taliban Campaign examines how indirect US funding and a $7 billion abandoned arsenal have turned the Taliban into a regional force multiplier for militant groups.

$The Taliban’s new fatwa banning foreign militancy signals a shift in doctrine, but rising regional attacks and ideological fractures raise questions about its enforceability.$

Doctrine vs Reality: Can the Taliban Enforce Their Ban on Foreign Militants?

SAT Editorial Desk December 11, 2025

The Taliban’s new fatwa banning foreign militants has been hailed by officials in Kabul as a decisive theological shift. But rising attacks in the north, continued TTP operations, and mounting pressure from Washington expose a widening gap between doctrine and reality. As regional powers demand proof of enforcement, the decree risks becoming another symbolic gesture unless it translates into measurable action on the ground.

Deconstructing the Pakistan-Afghanistan Economic Crisis

SAT Commentary December 10, 2025

The Pakistan-Afghanistan trade freeze is widely framed as a punitive economic move, yet its roots lie in a severe security breakdown emanating from Afghan territory. Pakistan’s transit closures are reactive, not aggressive, and Afghanistan’s deep logistical dependence on Pakistani routes exposes the crisis as geopolitical, not commercial.

Criminalising Dissent: How New Laws and “Public Order” Politics Are Shrinking Democratic Space in India

Jerome Enriquez John December 10, 2025

India is witnessing a steady erosion of democratic freedoms as broad security laws, digital surveillance, and administrative restrictions redefine dissent as a threat rather than a constitutional right. From expanded use of UAPA and IT Rules to routine protest crackdowns and shrinking academic space, the cumulative impact is a quieter and increasingly constrained civic sphere.

South Asia Times