(By Ayesha Mahnoor) I. Introduction Afghanistan, a landlocked country situated at the crossroads of Central and South Asia, has long relied on its neighbors for trade. Pakistan, in particular, has historically been a key trading partner. However, recent political tensions, economic grievances, and security concerns have prompted the Afghan government to announce a decision to stop all trade…
(By Khalid Masood) In the rugged terrains of South Waziristan, near the volatile Afghan border, a nightmare from Pakistan’s past nearly repeated itself on the night of November 10, 2025. What began as a brazen assault on Cadet College Wana—a premier institution grooming the nation’s future military leaders—unfolded into a tense, hours-long siege that tested…
(By Khalid Masood) Introduction The question of disarming Hamas stands at the heart of one of the most enduring and volatile conflicts of the modern world. Since the group’s formation in the late 1980s, Hamas has evolved from a religious-political movement into a multifaceted force that governs, resists, and survives. Every major military escalation in…
(By Ayesha Mahnoor) The principles of separation of powers and checks and balances are fundamental to modern democracy. Originating in the work of Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws (1748) and enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, they grant distinct authorities to the legislature, executive and judiciary so no single institution becomes absolute. In a…
(By Quratulain Khalid) I. Introduction On November 5, 2025, New York City made history as 34-year-old Zohran Kwame Mamdani surged to victory in the mayoral race, securing over 50% of the vote against formidable challengers. Democratic socialist Mamdani, a Queens state assemblyman since 2021, defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo (running as an independent with 40%+)…
(Mohsin Tanveer) El Fasher, the historic capital of North Darfur and a city of over 250,000 souls, was once a vibrant crossroads of trade and culture in western Sudan. By late October 2025, after an excruciating 18-month siege, it became a graveyard. On October 26-27, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—descendants of the Janjaweed militias…
(By Khalid Masood) In the bustling corridors of of Kuala Lumpur, amid high-level diplomacy and the humid haze of Southeast Asian geopolitics, two major powers – India and the United States – formalised a defence pact that may reshape the Indo-Pacific theatre for the next decade. On 31 October 2025, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh…
(By Khalid Masood) October 30, 2025 In the annals of South Asian statecraft, few moments crystallize a nation’s strategic maturity as vividly as Pakistan’s conduct during the Pakistan-Afghanistan peace dialogues in Istanbul, Türkiye, which concluded in a resounding diplomatic and moral victory for Islamabad on October 29, 2025. Far from the Western media’s lazy narrative…
(By Ayesha Mahnoor) The dust from the May 2025 border skirmishes has barely settled, yet New Delhi seems eager to stir it up again. The ghosts of Operation Sindoor—a rather theatrical episode masquerading as counter-terrorism—continue to haunt the uneasy peace between Pakistan and India. What was once sold to the Indian public as a “decisive…
(By Khalid Masood) In the fragile ecosystem of South Asian security, where the line between military posturing and all-out war is perilously thin, India has once again chosen the path of escalatory brinkmanship. The announcement of “Exercise Trishul” (Oct 30-Nov 10, 2025), is not a ‘routine’ drill as the spin from New Delhi would have…
