![Truck traveling along the Makran Coastal Highway in Balochistan, with rugged cliffs and the Arabian Sea coastline in the background [Image via Getty Images].](https://southasiatimes.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Balochistan-2.webp "Deconstructing the Deprivation Myth; How Balochistan’s Underdevelopment Became a Political Instrument")
Deconstructing the Deprivation Myth
Ibrahim Khalil
February 23, 2026
For decades, Balochistan’s underdevelopment has been framed as a story of federal neglect. But does the data support that claim?
For decades, Balochistan’s underdevelopment has been framed as a story of federal neglect. But does the data support that claim?
UN and Russian assessments highlight persistent militant networks in Afghanistan, raising regional security concerns despite Taliban control.
![Afghan men search for victims after a Pakistani air strike hit a residential area in the Girdi Kas village, Nangarhar province on February 22, 2026. [Aimal Zahir/AFP/Getty Images]](https://southasiatimes.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/gettyimages-2262391441.webp "Pakistan’s Cross-Border Strikes and the Evolving Counterterror Doctrine")
An analysis of Pakistan’s cross-border action, security rationale, and regional implications amid rising militant threats.
UN report warns of rising TTP attacks from Afghanistan and growing regional terror threats, rejecting Taliban claims of eliminating militants.
Analysis of Taliban claims versus UN findings, examining sanctions, militant presence, and Afghanistan’s regional security impact.
Analysis of Balochistan’s security landscape, where militancy exploits socio-economic grievances even as CPEC-driven investments seek stability through infrastructure, education, and connectivity.
Afghanistan’s north fuels cross-border militancy, drone attacks, and drug trafficking, prompting CSTO, CIS & SCO security action.
Repeated cross-border attacks, systematic militant infiltration, organized criminal networks and ideological export from Afghanistan underscore how Taliban rule has transformed the country into a regional epicenter of terrorism, destabilizing neighboring states, threatening regional connectivity, endangering foreign nationals, and posing broader risks to global security.
UNAMA’s October–December 2025 report on cross-border civilian casualties presents a narrowly framed humanitarian narrative that isolates consequences from causes, overlooking the entrenched terrorist infrastructure operating from Afghanistan and its direct role in destabilizing Pakistan.
US support for Pakistan following Balochistan violence reframes the conflict as a global counter-terrorism challenge, not a separatist struggle.