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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.

By Dan Qayyum · 8 min read

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.

By Dan Qayyum · 12 min read

Military and Security

The Price of the Sky Is Paid in Systems

A former Pakistan Air Force pilot argues that cheap drones have lowered the cost of striking from the air while leaving the cost of air power intact, and that the contest will be decided by integration, industrial depth and the speed of adaptation.

By Dan Qayyum · 10 min read

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.

By Dan Qayyum

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.

By Dan Qayyum

Latest Analysis

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.

By Playbook Editorial

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.

By Playbook Editorial

Dispatch

Everyone Wants Reform. Nobody Wants to Pay for It.

Pakistan knows exactly what needs fixing. The question is who is willing to lose power to do it.

By Dan Qayyum

Strategic Assessment Paper

The Kabul Assurances

In August 2021, days after taking Kabul, the Taliban set out a series of public commitments to Afghans and to the international community. The Kabul Assurances takes eleven of…

Access the report →

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