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By Zahid Karani In the shadow of the towering Pamir mountains, where mistrust has long cast a chill over shared valleys, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are quietly rewriting their story. Not with fanfare or grand treaties, but through the humdrum promise of trade—swapping goods, building factories, linking fates. At a conference in Tashkent this week, hosted by the International Institute for Central Asia, experts like Khurshed Asadov, deputy director of Uzbekistan’s Center for Economic Research and Reforms, sketched a vision that’s as pragmatic as it is tantalizing: bilateral trade could swell by another 30-40% if the neighbors simply prioritize each other’s…

By Asghar Ali Mubarak Pakistan’s bold diplomatic gambit in the shadow of escalating Iran-US tensions offers a rare glimmer of hope amid the rubble of ruptured alliances and missile strikes. As bombs fall and ultimatums fly, Islamabad is positioning itself not as a bystander but as a potential fulcrum for peace, ready to host talks between bitter adversaries if they consent. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has framed this as a point of national pride, underscoring Pakistan’s readiness to facilitate meaningful negotiations for a comprehensive settlement. In a region where diplomacy often feels like a relic, this fast-footed outreach—marked by frantic…

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In the swirling currents of global diplomacy, where alliances shift like desert sands, Pakistan has emerged as an unlikely beacon of mediation. The announcement that Islamabad will host high-stakes talks between the United States and Iran marks a seismic realignment in South Asia’s power dynamics. What began as a tentative overture has blossomed into a full-fledged diplomatic coup, positioning Pakistan not as a peripheral player, but as a pivotal hub for peace negotiations between two longstanding adversaries. This is no small feat for a nation long painted by its rivals as unstable or unreliable. Instead, it catapults Pakistan into the…

By our correspondent NEW YORK: Crude oil prices recorded a sharp decline of up to 11% in the international market amid ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and fluctuating investor sentiment. Brent crude fell by $12 to settle at $100 per barrel, while WTI crude dropped by $10 to $88 per barrel. Meanwhile, the US stock market saw intense volatility, with the S&P 500 surging 240 points within minutes, adding nearly $20 trillion to market capitalisation. However, the gains were short-lived as reports denying Iran-related negotiations triggered a sudden reversal, causing the index to fall by 120 points and wiping out around $10…

America’s Middle East edifice is cracking, not under some existential Iranian onslaught, but through the hubris of its own architects. Picture the scene: the United States, once the unassailable sheriff of the region, now edging towards a retreat that mirrors the humiliating scramble from Kabul’s airport in 2021—dusty chaos, abandoned allies, and a superpower’s aura in tatters. This isn’t the plot of a Tom Clancy thriller; it’s the slow-motion unravelling of Washington’s security architecture, driven not by 16 US intelligence reports debunking Iranian threats (as a counterterrorism insider named Joe Kant has pointed out), but by the personal zeal of…

By S.M. Inam Pakistan’s economy hangs by a thread in the Strait of Hormuz. That narrow waterway, a mere 21 miles wide at its narrowest, funnels nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil—around 20 million barrels a day—towards markets like ours in the energy-hungry Global South. Disrupt it, even briefly, and the ripples turn into tsunamis. A new study from the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), tied to the Planning Commission, lays this bare with unflinching clarity. Titled “Pakistan’s Exposure to a Strait of Hormuz Shock,” it paints a scenario where a geopolitical flare-up or logistical snag in that chokepoint…

By Muhammad Mohsin Iqbal There are moments in the life of nations when questions, long suppressed beneath the weight of power and narrative, rise with an urgency that cannot be ignored. Today, one such question confronts the conscience of the international order: is it the exclusive right of the United States of America to live in security, sovereignty and independence, while the same aspirations in other nations are treated with suspicion, hostility or even force? The United States has, over decades, constructed for itself one of the most formidable arsenals known to humankind. It justifies this accumulation as a necessary…

By Atiq Raja Success wears many masks. For the banker in the glass tower, it’s the seven-figure bonus that buys a yacht he rarely sails. For the influencer, it’s the viral post that swells the follower count but hollows the soul. Power, comfort, recognition—these glitter like fool’s gold, promising everything until you hold them close and feel the chill. History, though, tells a truer tale: the deepest, most enduring triumphs aren’t snatched from the peak of ambition’s ladder. They bloom from purpose, that quiet north star whispering why you’re climbing at all. Picture two climbers scaling Everest. One races for…