Commentary: Informed Opinions on Current Events

Healthcare as Statecraft in Taliban-Ruled Afghanistan

SAT Commentary December 23, 2025

Afghanistan’s recent shift away from Pakistani pharmaceutical imports toward Indian suppliers marks a dangerous transformation of healthcare into a tool of geopolitical signaling. Framed as regulatory reform, this pivot reflects a broader biopolitical strategy in which access to medicine is subordinated to diplomatic recalibration, with profound ethical and humanitarian consequences for an already vulnerable population.

How Afghan Networks Sustain Terrorism in Pakistan

SAT Commentary December 22, 2025

The December 2025 Boya suicide attack underscores the transnational nature of militancy confronting Pakistan. The identification of an Afghan national from Kabul as the attacker, and the public veneration he received there, reveals how recruitment pipelines, ideological legitimation, and porous borders continue to sustain insurgency in North Waziristan, placing growing strain on Pakistan–Taliban relations.

Herat tragedy claims 30 lives, exposing Afghanistan’s governance failures, unsafe migration, and escalating humanitarian crisis.

Herat Border Tragedy: The Deadly Consequences of Afghanistan’s Governance Failures

SAT Commentary December 20, 2025

The Herat border tragedy, is a stark illustration of the human cost of Afghanistan’s governance failures. With limited economic opportunities, widespread poverty, and insufficient social support, families are forced to undertake life-threatening journeys across freezing mountains. The incident underscores the urgent need for the Afghan government to provide stable livelihoods, establish safe migration routes, and strengthen healthcare and social services, as humanitarian risks continue to escalate across the country.

A fact-based rebuttal of claims about Pakistani troop deployment in Gaza, exposing disinformation and reaffirming Pakistan’s UN-mandated peacekeeping doctrine.

Debunking the Gaza Deployment Narrative

SAT Commentary December 19, 2025

False claims of a Pakistani troop deployment to Gaza, amplified by disinformation networks, were firmly rejected by the Foreign Office, reaffirming that Pakistan’s military operates only under UN mandates and constitutional limits.

Afghanistan’s Taliban uses pharmaceutical policy to assert autonomy, decouple from Pakistan, and expand strategic ties with India.

Afghan Taliban’s Biopolitics

SAT Commentary December 18, 2025

The Taliban’s health diplomacy is reshaping Afghanistan’s geopolitical landscape. By phasing out Pakistani pharmaceuticals and inviting Indian partnerships, Kabul securitizes its healthcare infrastructure as a tool of strategic realignment. The shift highlights the intersection of sovereignty, economic statecraft, and regional influence, with Afghan patients bearing the immediate consequences.

Islamophobia after violent attacks fuels polarization, legitimizes collective blame, and undermines security while strengthening extremist narratives.

Who Benefits from Islamophobia?

SAT Commentary December 17, 2025

In the wake of global violence, political actors often replace evidence-based analysis with collective blame. Islamophobia, when elevated from fringe rhetoric to state discourse, fractures society and weakens security.

The Taliban’s madrassa expansion indoctrinates Afghan youth, undermining education and fueling regional instability through global jihadist ideology.

The Growing Taliban Madrassa System: An Ideological Weapon Threatening Regional Stability

SAT Commentary December 17, 2025

The Taliban’s rapid madrassa expansion is transforming Afghanistan’s education system into a tool for extremist indoctrination, fostering a new generation aligned with global jihadist ideology and threatening regional stability.

The Acceleration of Insurgency in Northern Afghanistan

SAT Commentary December 14, 2025

A seventy-two-hour surge of intelligence-driven attacks in Kunduz and Fayzabad has shattered the Taliban’s claim of total control, signaling a shift toward coordinated urban insurgency in the north.

Contextualizing the Special Rapporteur’s Statement on Imran Khan

SAT Commentary December 13, 2025

The Special Rapporteur’s remarks on Imran Khan reflect the opinion of an independent expert, not an institutional UN verdict. Understanding the limits, selectivity, and politics of such mandates is essential before treating them as authoritative judgments.

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.

South Asia Times

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