Down The Line

Guantanamo Bay: Between War and Peace

Guantanamo Bay: Between War and Peace

The Guantanamo Bay detention center has become a haunting image of injustices, abuse, and torture meted out to the inmates unlawfully detained during the War on Terror. Amid calls for its closure, those still imprisoned are in a perpetual limbo between war and peace.

Read More »
Pakistan: Charting the Course to Democracy

Pakistan: Charting the Course to Democracy

Despite Pakistan\’s troubled political history, this week has witnessed unprecedented public acknowledgments of deep-seated fissures among political and apolitical actors. It is opportune for the nation to reassess and rechart its course.

Read More »
South Asia: The New Nuclear Age

South Asia: The New Nuclear Age

The security dynamics of South Asia have been exacerbated by the existence of two security rivalry dyads, including China-India and India-Pakistan. Amid ongoing developments, it is not too difficult to foresee heightened nuclear risks and the undermining of regional stability.

Read More »
COP27: Pakistan Amid Climate Divide

COP27: Pakistan Amid Climate Divide

Floods in Pakistan have not only revealed the country\’s extreme vulnerability to climate change but also the great North-South divide whereby the privileged carbon-intensive lifestyles of many in the North have greatly imperiled the relatively disadvantaged South.

Read More »
US and Afghanistan: Old Foes, New Times

US and Afghanistan: Old Foes, New Times

Recent talks between the US and Taliban officials offer a glimpse of hope for renewed engagement between the two countries, but existing fissures will demand greater effort and transformed strategies to cultivate durable peace.

Read More »
October 8: Of Tremors and Resilience

October 8: Of Tremors and Resilience

Through its apocalyptic imagery, October 8 has since its tragic dawn in 2005 captured the zenith of both loss and resilience of the Pakistani nation faced with the continual threat of earthquakes. What does the risk analysis infer?

Read More »
India in Afghanistan: Friend or Frenemy?

India in Afghanistan: Friend or Frenemy?

Despite ideological fissures between a deeply Islamophobic polity of India and the ‘Islamic Emirate’ of Afghanistan, as well as the specter of a troubled past, signs of rapprochement between the two are on the horizon. But at what cost?

Read More »
UNGA 77th: Discourse on Afghanistan

UNGA 77th: Discourse on Afghanistan

Silence from Afghanistan at the UNGA session for the second consecutive year inspired leaders from a few other states to ensure the country was mentioned. Accorded a varied reception, the remarks reflect distinct national perceptions of, and interests in Afghanistan.

Read More »
To Mourn or Not to Mourn, That is the Question

To Mourn or Not to Mourn, That is the Question

The death of Queen Elizabeth II has drawn varied reactions, including renewed anger from nations once subjected to British colonialism. To them, the occasion is yet another moment of reckoning; an opportunity to reveal the darker side of the extraordinary grandeur symbolized by the British Crown.

Read More »
SCO Summit 2022: An Overview

SCO Summit 2022: An Overview

The SCO Summit 2022 is yet another reminder of the significance of the organization\’s geostrategic scope and its membership in shared aspirations of regional connectivity. With theorized shifts in the global order, the degree of actualization of that vision remains to be seen.

Read More »