Derailing the Lifeline On November 29, 2025, an improvised explosive device (IED) planted on the railway track detonated shortly before a train was expected to arrive in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. “Around one and a half feet of the track was blown up in the blast,” a railway official said. On November 24, 2025, the Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express […]

Iranian President Masoud Pezhakian’s visit to Islamabad on August 2, which led to the signing of 12 cooperation agreements between Iran and Pakistan, is a reflection of the 12-day Israel-Iran war. Pakistan strongly condemned the unjustified and illegitimate aggression by Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistani Defence Minister Khwaja Asif vowed to “stand behind Iran” and called […]

Seventy-eight years after India’s independence in 1947, the condition of the country’s Muslim community raises a number of enduring questions—about equity, integration, and justice. The community, which comprises roughly 14.2% of the country’s population according to the 2011 Census and an estimated 19.7 crore (197 million) individuals in 2023, still bears the visible imprint of disadvantage on many socio-economic and […]

He thanked India’s Ministry of External Affairs for facilitating discussions, noting that technical teams and private-sector representatives from both countries have been in continuous contact. Afghanistan is accelerating efforts to diversify its trade routes after Islamabad halted the transit of Afghan goods through Karachi, prompting Kabul to strengthen alternative corridors — particularly via Iran’s Chabahar Port and expanded cooperation with […]

Afghanistan’s Taliban government vowed Tuesday to “respond appropriately” to overnight strikes it blamed on neighboring Pakistan that killed 10 people, as tensions spiked the day after a suicide bombing in a Pakistani city. An air raid on Khost province left nine children and a woman “martyred,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid posted on X, blaming Pakistani forces and saying the target […]

The house that once stood on the mountainside in Mughulgai village, Gurbaz district, is now only scattered stone and dust. Just hours earlier, it was a family home — filled with laughter, children, and the warmth of a late-autumn evening. By morning, it had become a burial ground. Aslam, who was away on a work trip that night, returned to […]

Pakistan’s military on Tuesday issued a cautious response to Taliban accusations of deadly airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan, saying it does not conduct undeclared military operations and “never targets civilians”. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that Pakistani strikes hit parts of Khost, Paktika and Kunar provinces overnight, killing at least 10 civilians. Mujahid described the attacks as “violations and […]

Pakistan’s military denied on Tuesday it had struck neighbouring Afghanistan, rejecting accusations by the Taliban government that it was behind an overnight air raid that killed 10 people near the border. “Pakistan has not attacked Afghanistan,” army spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said in comments carried by state broadcaster PTV, adding that “the allegations of the interim Afghan government […]

In 2021, open-source intelligence efforts revealed a surprising discovery using commercial satellite imagery: China was building at least two silo fields for nuclear missiles. By 2022, a third field was identified. Intelligence experts even speculated that a field in Xinjiang was built with the intention of being found, given its proximity to an infamous “re-education” camp already under international scrutiny. […]

Bottom lines up front Executive summary China’s economic rise and its integration with Africa have catalyzed new infrastructure and industries across the continent. But this also now exposes African countries to negative ripple effects from changes in China’s domestic economy. As China’s investment- and manufacturing-centric economic model loses steam, African officials and policymakers will need to plan for growth and […]