South Asia Times

Down The Line

Ukrainian and Russian flags with soldier silhouettes representing ongoing conflict. [Image via Atlantic Council].

Russia–Ukraine War, Four Years Later

SAT Editorial Desk February 25, 2026

Pakistan’s urban growth is dangerously concentrated in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, driving inequality, environmental collapse, and governance failure.

Pakistan’s Urbanization Problem

SAT Editorial Desk January 28, 2026

How India’s bureaucracy is being reshaped by ideology, coercion, and loyalty, eroding neutrality and transforming the administrative state.

Governing by Faith and Fear: Inside India’s Bureaucratic Transformation

SAT Editorial Desk January 26, 2026

The Taliban’s new criminal code entrenches a tiered justice system, privileging clerics and elites while harshly punishing the poor.

Afghanistan’s New Tiered Justice System

SAT Editorial Desk January 25, 2026

As multilateral norms erode, global politics is entering an interregnum where power, security, and transactional alliances increasingly define the international system.

The Global Interregnum: The Old World Is Dying, and the New Struggles to Be Born

SAT Editorial Desk January 24, 2026

Pakistan’s decision to join Gaza’s Board of Peace exposes a stark dilemma: strategic engagement to influence outcomes, or moral complicity in a managed peace that sidelines Palestinians.

Realpolitik or Moral Complicity? Pakistan and Gaza’s Board of Peace

SAT Editorial Desk January 22, 2026

Afghanistan’s post-2021 economy has shifted toward informality, coercive revenue, and regional trade, shaped by isolation, sanctions, and political risk.

Afghanistan’s Post-2021 Economic Model

SAT Editorial Desk January 20, 2026

As instability spreads from Afghanistan’s north, Tajikistan faces renewed militant pressure, exposing the limits of regional security guarantees and Taliban governance.

The Return of Insurgency in Central Asia

SAT Editorial Desk January 19, 2026

Is an Islamic NATO emerging? Pakistan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia explore a trilateral defense pact reshaping Middle East and South Asian security.

Toward an Islamic NATO?

SAT Editorial Desk January 18, 2026