Billions in Aid Zero Accountability: Unpacking the Kabul Institute Report on Afghanistan
A landmark report by the Kabul Institute has laid bare severe transparency and financial accountability deficits in international aid management under the Taliban regime. Over the past five years, leading global donors including the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany have channeled USD 8 billion through international agencies for humanitarian relief. However, public records fail […]
The Next Stage of India’s Foreign Policy Is Strategic Leverage
India has long cherished strategic autonomy as a defining principle of its foreign policy. This has enabled the country to preserve its independence of judgement, maintain relationships across competing power centres and pursue its national interests without becoming subordinate to any geopolitical bloc. In a world divided by the Cold War, this was a statement […]
Israel’s Vision of Regional Security Rests on Keeping Arab States Weak
The 2020 Abraham Accords did not bring a new era of regional peace, as US President Donald Trump promised. Instead, since the agreements were signed, Israel has carried out a genocide in Gaza and an unprecedented settlement expansion in the West Bank. No one, least of all experts, is surprised. From the moment the United […]
Xi’s Delhi Visit: China’s New Tone, Old Assumptions About India
China’s president spoke of partnership in Delhi, but China’s longstanding doubts about India’s rise persist. Xi’s Delhi visit: China’s new tone, old assumptions about India When China’s President Xi Jinping flew into New Delhi for the BRICS summit last month, it was his first visit to India in seven years. Meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi […]
How Mega Infrastructure Is Rewriting Politics?
Almost a decade ago, the main argument about mega-infrastructure was mainly about economics. Would the port pay for itself? Would the motorway move enough freight and boost commercial activity? Would the power-generating plant alleviate the energy woes of a country? However, today across three continents, the mega-infrastructure projects have become a reason for governments to […]
What Explains Russia’s Move
The Russian government has been gradually cozying up to the Taliban regime in Kabul. In April 2025, it removed the Taliban from the list of banned organizations. In July, the same year it extended official recognition to the regime. In the latest move, Moscow has acknowledged Taliban counter terrorism efforts during the meeting of Moscow […]
The Algorithmic Kill Chain
The interval between United States (US) strikes has fallen from about five days over Waziristan to about four minutes over Iran. Artificial intelligence (AI) has made speed the decisive advantage in war, and its greatest hazard.
Pakistan’s Remittances Rest on a Gulf at War
On Friday, October 9, Pakistan International Airlines suspended its Riyadh flights after Houthi attacks on Saudi aviation facilities. Across Pakistan, 42 flights to Saudi Arabia were cancelled. The cancellations affected Pakistan’s biggest overseas job market. In 2025 alone, Saudi Arabia received 530,256 Pakistani workers. Saudi markets offer lucrative jobs for the unemployed young population of […]
Taliban Turn Afghan Classrooms Into Drone Workshops While Girls Stay Shut Out
Five years after seizing Kabul by force, the Taliban are drawing the country’s leading universities, state factories and commercial supply chains into a covert program to build one-way attack drones. Meanwhile, 2.4 million Afghan girls are barred from secondary school. The priorities say more about the regime than any statement it issues. On September 6, […]