Geopolitics
The Mutual Assembly Pact
After Makkah promised mutual defence, Badr sets out to build the arsenal behind it.
Section
Geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics
Kabul Vetoes Its Own Words in Moscow
The Taliban blocked counterterrorism language at the Moscow Format that they had signed a year earlier, on the same day Russia praised their record against terrorism.
Geopolitics
Pakistan’s Yemen Options: Shield, Supplier or Combatant
Saudi-backed Yemeni forces have launched an offensive to reverse the Houthi capture of Yemen’s Red Sea coast, and the Mecca defence pact has been formally activated. Pakistan already has troops, aircraft and weapons in the theatre. How far Islamabad goes next will be set by the credibility of its defence pacts, the depth of its relationship with Riyadh and a war still running on its western border.
Geopolitics
India Claims It Killed Mohammad Asif. He Disagrees.
Within a day of a gunfight in Kashmir, Indian media had given a dead militant a Pakistan Army career, a service number and an identity card. On 1 October, the man named on that card sat beside Pakistan’s military spokesman in Islamabad and confirmed he was alive.
Geopolitics
The Kabul Assurances
The Pakistan Playbook's new Strategic Assessment Paper tests the commitments the Taliban made in 2021 against five years of the public record.
Geopolitics
A Crowded Podium: What Pakistan Carries Into UNGA 81
This explainer works through the files Pakistan brings to the high-level week of the 81st UN General Assembly, from the Gulf war it is mediating to the treaty India has walked away from, and sets out what a good week and a bad week would look like.
Geopolitics
Pakistan Weighs Its First Obligation Under the Mecca Pact
Five weeks after signing, Pakistan is weighing strikes on the Houthis at Saudi request. An explainer on what the pact requires and what Islamabad has not decided.
Geopolitics
Israel Votes on 27 October. What It Means for Pakistan
Pakistan brokered the pause in the Iran war, sits on the Board of Peace alongside Israel, and holds a defence commitment to Turkey. An explainer on which of those the vote reaches.
Geopolitics
Why Is Imran Khan in Prison?
Two convictions are keeping him in prison, both under appeal. Two more stand with their sentences suspended and their appeals undecided. Two were set aside on acquittal, and a United Nations body has found his detention arbitrary.
Geopolitics
Pakistan and Kuwait Sign Protocol Expanding 2023 Defence Framework
The new instrument covers training, capacity building and border management, and carries no collective defence clause.
Geopolitics
The Mecca Pact and the India Question
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey have signed an agreement treating an attack on one as an attack on all. What it changes between Pakistan and India.
Geopolitics
The Cost of Watching Everyone
The only thing that ever really limited tyranny was the cost of watching everyone. Artificial intelligence has just removed it.