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Badakhshan Gold Mines Expose Taliban Regime’s Mineral Control and Mafia Style Exclusion

The struggle over gold in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province is increasingly becoming a struggle over power itself. Recent protests by local mining workers in Arghanj Khwah, alongside earlier demonstrations over restrictions on local mining, highlight a growing dispute over who benefits from the province’s mineral wealth. As mechanised companies expand their presence and traditional workers are […]

BLA’s Deadly Message to Baloch Mothers: Send Your Children to Die

Recently, digital and social media platforms have witnessed a disturbing resurgence of propaganda engineered by Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). By aggressively recycling old footage of Hawa Baloch, these militant factions are attempting to weaponize a tragedy, effectively turning a young woman’s death into a calculated recruitment tool. This orchestrated campaign sends a chilling, deadly message […]

Zac Goldsmith and the Politics of Convenient Compassion

The recent entreaty by Zac Goldsmith, a member of the British political elite, on behalf of Pakistan’s incarcerated former Prime Minister, Imran Khan, represents a glaring paradox in international advocacy. While Mr. Goldsmith’s sudden, fervent concern for Mr. Khan’s well-being might appear to be a humanitarian gesture, a closer examination reveals a web of selective […]

Pakistan Condemns Israel’s Continued Violation of Gaza Ceasefire

A ceasefire that exists only on paper protects no one. That is the uncomfortable truth behind Pakistan’s latest condemnation of Israel’s continuing military operations in Gaza, issued at a moment when the guns were supposed to have fallen silent. Women and children continue to die in strikes that Islamabad describes as unabated, even as diplomats […]

UN Official Colin Smith Warns of Afghan Terror Ecosystem

When a United Nations official speaks of at least twenty active terrorist groups operating inside a single country, the statement deserves more than passing attention. Colin Smith’s assessment of Afghanistan should be read as exactly that: a warning grounded in evidence, not speculation dressed up as diplomacy. He is a counterterrorism expert who serves as […]

The Wars No One Declared

In 2011, Muammar Gaddafi went on state television to call the protesters burning his country “rats and cockroaches fuelled by foreign money.” He was not entirely wrong. But he was wrong about the sequence. Foreign money had been arriving for years, quietly widening tribal fractures, funding rival commanders, and building the conditions for exactly the […]

Pakistan-Iran Relations Amid Conflict: Security, Diplomacy and Economic Stakes

Pakistan-Iran relation amid the ongoing conflict has demonstrated that Islamabad’s security relationship with Tehran extends beyond the management of their shared border. By facilitating dialogue between Iran and the United States, Pakistan has attempted to reduce the risk of a wider regional confrontation while protecting its own economic and strategic interests. The diplomatic engagment represents […]

CPEC 2.0: Assessing the Shift from Infrastructure to Industry

CPEC 1.0 was visible in Pakistan’s landscape. roads were built, power plants came online and connectivity infrastructure expanded all over the country. CPEC 2.0 presents a different and more difficult test as its success will not be measured primarily by kilometres of roads constructed or megawatts added to the national grid, but by what Pakistan […]

State-Society Relation: When Institutional Immaturity Turns Society against the State

A society does not remain stagnant and immature. As education grows, information is available, economic and social relationships are growing in number, and citizens are becoming more aware of their rights, expectations and dignity, society calls for something more from the state: fairness, accountability, representation and equal treatment. This is not an example of disorganization. […]