FlashbackOn June 13, 2019, government of Pakistan issued a notification approving the creation of National Development Council [NDC] comprising 13 members under the then Prime Minister Imran Khan, which included the serving army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. The ‘terms of reference’ assigned to this newly created body were, “set policies and strategies for development; formulated and tailor policies to […]

In recent months, growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait as well as the rapid and coordinated Group of Seven (G7) economic response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have raised questions—in G7 capitals and in Beijing alike—over whether similar measures could be imposed on China in a Taiwan crisis. This report examines the range of plausible economic countermeasures on the table […]

Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar visited Torkham crossing point between Pakistan and Afghanistan this week and urged officials to deal with Afghans with respect and care. Pakistan ministry of foreign affairs said on Twitter that Khar also called for the completion of the Integrated Transit Trade Management System (ITTMS) at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. She was […]

Imran Khan, Pakistan’s former prime minister, has been on the warpath in the streets of Pakistan against the military-led establishment ever since he was voted out by parliament last year. Once seen as the military’s darling and reportedly assisted by the military and its intelligence agencies in the elections that brought him to power in 2018, he has now turned […]

Washington and New Delhi Share Interests, Not Values It has been a ritual for decades. Whenever American policymakers travel to India, they sing paeans to the beauty of Indian politics, to the country’s diversity, and to the shared values connecting—in the words of multiple U.S. presidents—“the world’s oldest democracy” and “the world’s largest democracy.” This rhetoric may be gauzy, and […]

America Is Not In March, at the end of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin stood at the door of the Kremlin to bid his friend farewell. Xi told his Russian counterpart, “Right now, there are changes—the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years—and we are the ones driving these changes together.” Putin, […]

Abandoning Afghanistan by the international community would lead to unimaginable consequences, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has warned. Speaking in an event at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, Zardari called on the international community to maintain a pragmatic approach and constructive engagement with Afghanistan and provide support to avert any potential humanitarian disaster in the country. “The international […]

Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani has called on ministry officials to ensure all work processes are transparent. Haqqani made the remarks at a ceremony to introduce the newly appointed deputy interior minister for support. He said that the rules should be strictly observed and transparency should be ensured in all departments. “There are rules in place here. The rules mean that […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has “strongly rejected” claims made by the Special Inspector General of Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) that threats by foreign and domestic groups have increased in the country. The IEA’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said SIGAR, which was established to monitor spending by US agencies, was now spreading “propaganda”. “We strongly reject SIGAR’s propaganda, the Islamic Emirate […]

On June 13, China’s central bank released the somewhat belated monetary and financial data for May. As predicted by researchers at ANBOUND, the data for May showed a slowdown in both monetary indicators and social financing. This reflects that after achieving better-than-expected economic growth in the first quarter, the phase of demand rebound, which was suppressed by the pandemic, has […]