Author: admin

The Economist’s recent special report on Bushra Bibi, the wife of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan, has reopened a debate many in the country have tiptoed around for years. The magazine’s findings, stark in detail and unsettling in implication, revive persistent questions about who really wielded influence during Khan’s premiership and how far the boundaries between the political, the spiritual and the absurd were allowed to blur inside the country’s highest office. For a woman who spent most of her time shielded from public view, Bushra Bibi now stands at the center of a narrative that intertwines statecraft with…

Pakistan’s decision to halt the attempted import of Afghan-origin fresh fruits through Iran has thrown a fresh spotlight on the fragility of regional trade and the growing strain placed on Afghanistan’s already overstretched logistics. The episode, though technical on paper, speaks to a much larger story unfolding along Pakistan’s western borders: a region where political mistrust, security anxieties and administrative bottlenecks now shape the daily reality of trade more than any formal agreement ever could. For Afghanistan, a landlocked nation whose farms produce some of the region’s finest fruits and perishables, these disruptions are not abstract policy disputes; they threaten…

When Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Afghanistan’s Deputy Prime Minister, directed Afghan traders to reduce their dependence on Pakistan and seek alternative routes for trade, it was more than just an economic instruction. It was a political statement — a calculated response to the growing chill between Kabul and Islamabad. The order to shift imports, particularly medicines, to suppliers in other countries was framed as an economic realignment, yet it revealed something deeper: a fracture in a relationship that once seemed unbreakable, forged by geography, religion and shared history but now corroded by mistrust and competing interests. For decades, Pakistan served…

For decades, Pakistan has carried a burden that few nations could bear: the protection, shelter, and often the very survival of its Afghan neighbors. From the deserts of Balochistan to the mountains of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, generations of Pakistanis—both civilians and members of the armed forces—have offered sacrifices in life and limb, defending not only their own territory but also shielding Afghanistan from regional pressures, global conflicts, and the shifting ambitions of superpowers. Yet history demonstrates that gratitude is rarely forthcoming. The Afghan Taliban, emboldened by new patrons and embattled ambitions, seem intent on reminding the world that Pakistan’s generosity is…

There are moments in diplomacy when timing matters more than intent. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s decision to send a high-level delegation to Islamabad comes at such a moment — a time when the fragile peace between Pakistan and Afghanistan is unravelling under the weight of mistrust, border clashes and conflicting priorities. The mission, led by Turkiye’s foreign minister, defence minister and intelligence chief, is expected to arrive in the coming days, carrying a mandate that is both ambitious and uncertain: to nudge Islamabad and Kabul back to the table and salvage what little remains of dialogue. For months, talks…