Uzbekistan does not possess nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons and is a member of the Central Asia Nuclear Weapons Free-Zone Treaty. That is the good news. However, the disturbing news is a 2018 agreement with Russia’s state atomic energy corporation Rosatom to build a nuclear power plant in Uzbekistani territory. While Tashkent needs additional power sources, the nuclear plant is […]

Amid Pakistan’s economic crisis and the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan, the Pakistani Taliban have reemerged as an increasingly potent threat. The Pakistani Taliban’s late January attack in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, claimed the lives of more than 100 worshipping at a police compound mosque. The bombing was claimed by a faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, […]

Kautilya, when ousted by the Nanda dynasty helped in buttressing the Mauryan empire through his academic and worldly teachings. Theoretical perspectives and reminiscent of his commandment established the significance of a peaceful neighborhood for Arthashastra. Although the states always looks for alliance beyond the first Mandala (circle of states), peace and influence in the immediate neighborhood remains the topmost priority. […]

The EU and India have launched a Trade and Technology Council (TTC), a bilateral forum to prioritise their partnership through cooperation in digital governance, green and clean energy technologies, and resilient value chains, trade and investment. The Council is a response to increasing great-power competition and a desire on both sides to bolster their respective strategic autonomies, with the potential […]

The South Asian neighbourhood is in flux. Sri Lanka and Pakistan are facing economic headwinds, with the former having gone through a full-blown economic collapse and the latter facing huge external debts, power shortages, and extreme inflation. Both are awaiting a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF has also sanctioned a precautionary loan of US $4.7 billion […]

China has become a global leader in the electric vehicles (EVs) sector, and Western governments are worried that its comparative advantage will become entrenched. Once again, mainstream pundits blame China’s success on government subsidies and unfair competition. This is just a pretext to argue for more government support in a sector which, from the very beginning, has not been driven […]

Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and police killed six ‘terrorists’ in a joint operation in the Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. According to details, the CTD and police in a joint operation in Lakki Marwat’s Daddiwala area met an encounter with the terrorists. The terrorists were planning to carry out an attack at police station Abbasa, the police said. […]

The counter-terrorism department killed a militant and arrested five others in an operation in Tela Band area, some 20 kilometres south of the provincial capital, early on Wednesday. A senior police official told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the operation was carried out after receiving intelligence about the presence of militants in the area. He said the militants both […]

Pakistan’s defence minister and spy chief held talks with Taliban government officials in Kabul Wednesday on ways to counter the “threat of terrorism,” days after Islamabad blamed Afghanistan-based militants for deadly recent attacks. Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban of harbouring militants from its own home-grown version of the Islamist group, a charge Kabul denies. Afghan officials led by deputy Prime […]

The Taliban-led interim government in Afghanistan has assured the Pakistani delegation of an action against sanctuaries of the banned TTP on its soil as Islamabad took up the matter of terrorism incidents with Kabul. The promise was made as a high-level delegation led by Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif visited the neighbouring country. Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Nadeem […]