Sushant Sareen

An old African proverb—‘Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter’—comes to mind after reading Farhat Taj's combative, if also compelling, and to an extent controversial, description of what is actually happening on ground zero of the War on Terror, i.e. the Pashtun-dominated belt of the Afpak region. Often enough, the dominant narrative of any war drowns the voices of those living through and dying in the conflict. This is precisely what has happened in the Pashtun-populated areas that lie in the eye of the Islamist storm.

• Published: September 2012
• Strategic Analysis

Regardless of the spin and gloss that Pakistan puts on the decision to re-open NATO supply lines to Afghanistan, it was in large measure the result of sustained US economic, political and diplomatic pressure.

• Published: July 06, 2012
• IDSA Comments

India will remain a card in the hand of any future Afghan dispensation (whether Taliban or anti-Taliban) to strengthen its negotiating position with Pakistan.

• Published: June 21, 2012
• IDSA Comments

Instead of taking leave of its senses every time someone from across the border coos sweet nothings, India needs to set metrics by which to judge Pakistan and then take steps to reciprocate any positive measures from the other side.

• Published: May 14, 2012
• IDSA Comments

The Indian policy establishment needs to start factoring into its security calculus the fallout of a Talibanised Afghanistan and eventually a Talibanised Pakistan.

• Published: March 20, 2012
• Issue Brief

India will have to take a call on whether the pivotal position of Iran for reaching Afghanistan and Central Asia outweighs the benefits India derives from its relationship with the West and the Arab world.

• Published: February 17, 2012
• IDSA Comments

The outlook for Pakistan in the year 2012 is rather negative diplomatically, economically, politically, socially, culturally, and militarily.

• Published: December 13, 2011
• IDSA Comments

Byzantine intrigues are nothing new in the sordid world of Pakistan’s power politics.

• Published: November 23, 2011
• IDSA Comments

At a time of such monumental, even existential, challenges, if all that Pakistan can come up with is a vacuous demagogue like Imran Khan, then its future is pretty bleak.

• Published: November 08, 2011
• IDSA Comments

Until the US figures out an answer to the larger Pakistan problem, like India it too will have to resist the temptation of responding to Pakistani provocation with force.

• Published: October 03, 2011
• IDSA Comments