Ideological Foundations and Strategic Realities of Fitna al-Khawarij
Contemporary security statecraft requires dismantling the ideological underpinnings of non-state violent extremism alongside kinetic counter-terrorism operations. Ground-breaking scholarly research, most notably Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri’s comprehensive study on terrorism, demonstrates that modern takfiri organizations are the direct doctrinal successors of historical Khawarij. Establishing this theological lineage equips state institutions with an unassailable legal foundation to delegitimize militant […]
Russia’s Taliban Gamble Opens a New Terrorism Fault Line
The immediate disagreement was between Pakistan and the Taliban authorities. Russia’s special representative for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said the two delegations could not agree on language referring to Afghanistan in the context of terrorism. Kabul objected that Afghanistan was being associated too heavily with militant activity, while Pakistan insisted that terrorism remained the central unresolved security issue. […]
India’s Afghanistan Gambit
India once accused the Taliban of bombing its embassy in Kabul. Today its embassy is back, and Pakistani intelligence reports describe a RAW–GDI alliance bringing the TTP and BLA together against Pakistan.
The Afghan Taliban’s Growing Drone War Against Pakistan
Pakistan’s air defense system shot down eight drones after they entered the country’s airspace from Afghanistan on September 23. Four drones were shot down near the border at Torkham and four were shot down near Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In response, Pakistan struck 10 locations in Afghanistan that were being used to launch and store […]
After the War: How Iran’s Deterrence Is Reshaping the Gulf Security Order
The most important question emerging from the Iran war is not simply who inflicted greater damage. It is what the conflict has changed in the strategic calculations of the states surrounding the Persian Gulf. For years, deterrence in the region was largely discussed in terms of missiles, air defenses, military bases and the ability to […]
Liberation in Name, Terrorist in Deed: Why is BLA a terrorist organization?
In modern political discourse, liberation is a rhetorical tool to achieve one’s aims. It reminds people of being freed from empires and evokes sympathy. For the same reason, some political entities misuse it; for example, in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, the Balochistan Liberation Army used the narrative of liberation to justify asymmetric warfare tactics. However, BLA’s […]
Bit by Bit, the Taliban is Losing Control of Afghanistan
Five years after seizing Kabul, the Taliban’s strongest argument for international acceptance rests on control. The Taliban governs every provincial capital and faces no conventional army capable of marching on Kabul. It repeatedly cites improved security as proof that Afghanistan’s post-2021 order is settled. But armed resistance is becoming more geographically dispersed, more organizationally diverse […]
Why Pakistan’s Afghanistan Policy Reached a Breaking Point
After years of religious mediation, tribal jirgas, diplomatic protests and third-party negotiations, Islamabad says repeated attacks from Afghan territory have left deterrence as its remaining option, raising the risk of a wider cycle of retaliation. Pakistan’s strikes inside Afghanistan are the latest stage of a conflict that diplomacy failed to contain. Before resorting to force, […]
Pakistan’s DC Moment
US President Donald Trump’s recent remarks about Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, calling him a terrific man” at the United Nations General Assembly, have once again brought Pakistan-US relations into the international spotlight. These remarks are part of a broader pattern of engagement in which the Pakistani leadership has received public recognition from President Trump, who […]