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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
The Taliban regime\’s vagueness on the subject of reopening girls\’ high schools despite repeated promises reflects poorly on their image as an evolved group. The ongoing dilemma may very well be a watershed moment in their legitimacy and viability as rulers of post-war Afghanistan.
The legacy of the Pak-Afghan region is one of conflicts and ties between the two countries oscillating between fellowship and distrust. As the two tread the path to greater stability, the time for laying the foundations of a durable union is evading fast.
Shared tragedies serve as reminders that neighbouring ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan are not only limited to overlapping history and culture but also include the shared habitation of a landscape extremely vulnerable to natural calamities.