For sixty-four years, the Indus Waters Treaty survived everything the subcontinent could throw at it–three wars, nuclear brinkmanship, terrorist attacks, diplomatic ruptures that shattered every other institutional bridge between New Delhi and Islamabad. It was, as the textbooks liked to say, the gold standard of transboundary water governance: proof that even nuclear-armed enemies could recognise […]
Peace in the Backchannels: Why the World Traded the UN for Islamabad
Whenever tensions flare between two nations, the world instinctively asks the same question: “Where is the United Nations?” The UN was built to be the world’s safeguard-created to preserve peace, head off conflict, and provide a neutral ground for diplomacy. On paper, a high-stakes confrontation involving Iran, the United States, and the threat of regional […]