After twenty-eight years of the nuclear tests at Chagai, the strategic environment in South Asia has shifted in ways that Pakistan’s original deterrence architects could not have imagined. Pakistan’s shift from Credible Minimum Deterrence to Full-Spectrum Deterrence was rooted in the assumption of the threat of conventional invasion, mass mobilisation, and decisive ground offensives. These […]
Dilemma
Margalla Dilemma
The ruling elite wants to engineer a city of skyscrapers and glitzy parks on the shoulders of the Margalla Hills. Alarmed by the scale of tree felling and land clearing across the capital, the World Wide Fund for Nature?Pakistan has warned that a 1,000?kanal park and a string of five?star hotels at the foothills of […]
Existential Dilemma
The suicide bombing in Bajaur District that killed 11 soldiers and a child has once again torn away the flimsy veil covering Pakistan’s most pressing security quandary. On Wednesday, Islamabad summoned the Afghan deputy head of mission in a rare, stern diplomatic rebuke. When the Afghan Taliban assumed control in 2021, they pledged to prevent […]
Tejas Dilemma
The tragic crash of Tejas at Dubai Airshow 2025 holds serious strategic repercussions for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), a multi-purpose 4.5 generation jet, is not only viewed by India as a manifestation of its technological and strategic autonomy but also as a symbol of […]
Afghan Taliban and Pakistan’s Dilemma
When the Taliban returned to power in Kabul, many in the region hoped they had changed. They had promised dialogue, inclusivity, and an end to the use of Afghan soil against any neighbour. Four years later, those hopes lie buried under the rubble of broken assurances and cross-border graves. The Taliban’s signature on the 2020 […]