SAT Editorial Desk - South Asia Times

Former US Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad, whose claims questioning Pakistan's diplomacy are contradicted by four years of documented bilateral engagement and successive UN monitoring reports on terrorist safe havens in Afghanistan

Counter-Terrorism

Khalilzad’s Claims Ignore Four Years of Documented Pakistani Diplomacy and His Own Catastrophic Record in Afghanistan

There is a particular kind of audacity that comes from men who have failed comprehensively at something and then returned, without apparent embarrassment, to lecture

SAT Editorial Desk

Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad handing over DPM/FM’s Letter on India’s IWT Violations to the President of the Security Council

Editorial Picks

When Water Becomes a Weapon: Pakistan Takes the Indus Battle to the UN Security Council

On 18 June 2026, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, walked into the Security Council and handed a letter to Ambassador Leonor

SAT Editorial Desk

Representation of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding implementation process with Pakistan supporting technical and diplomatic tracks between the United States and Iran

Diplomacy & geopolitics

Islamabad MoU Enters Implementation Phase as Pakistan’s Diplomacy Transitions from Political Breakthrough to Structured Peace Architecture

There is a tendency in the commentary on diplomatic breakthroughs to conflate the moment of announcement with the substance of achievement, to measure success by

SAT Editorial Desk

Months of quiet diplomacy in Tehran, Islamabad and Beijing helped end the US-Iran standoff and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Down The Line

How Pakistan Talked Washington and Tehran Off the Brink

For most of this spring, the Strait of Hormuz was less a shipping lane than a held breath. Tankers idled off Bandar Abbas, insurers quietly

SAT Editorial Desk

Human Rights/ Women Rights

Herat Residents Return to Streets Demanding Women’s Rights as Taliban Deploys Tanks and Armed Forces to Suppress Civilian Protesters

There is a moment in the life of every authoritarian system when the architecture of repression begins to reveal not the strength of the regime

SAT Editorial Desk

UNSC chamber New York where Pakistan China BLA sanctions proposal was blocked

Down The Line

How Great-Power Rivalry Broke the UN Sanctions Regime

The West’s blocking of BLA sanctions at the UNSC reveals how geopolitical competition is hollowing out the UN’s counterterrorism architecture, and what Pakistan must do next.

SAT Editorial Desk

Fu Cong, P.R. of China to the UN Explanation of Vote at the UN Security Council: UNAMA Mandate Extension

Diplomacy & geopolitics

China Becomes The New Penholder in UNSC on Afghanistan

In a quiet but significant shift at the United Nations Security Council, China has taken over as the sole penholder on Afghanistan in 2025. This

SAT Editorial Desk

SAT Studies

Kharjeeyat and the Ideological Grammar of Extremism in Pakistan

Extremism in Pakistan is frequently examined through terrorist incidents, militant organisations, and security responses. Far less attention is given to the underlying doctrinal frameworks that enable such movements to emerge, evolve, and regenerate over time.

SAT Editorial Desk

Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump walking side-by-side during a formal diplomatic event in Beijing.

Editorial Picks

Red Carpets, Red Lines, and the Beijing Summit

Trump’s Beijing Summit with Xi reveals a fragile US-China reset shaped by trade, Taiwan tensions, and the Iran crisis.

SAT Editorial Desk

Editorial Picks

Beyond the War: Re-imagining Security and Sovereignty in the Middle East

The US-Israel war on Iran highlights the decline of unilateral American dominance in the Middle East and underscores the need for a regional security architecture led by Muslim states through diplomacy, sovereignty, and strategic cooperation.

SAT Editorial Desk