Pakistan

The Baloch question and the ongoing conflict represent the limits of coercive state measures and strategic containment in confronting a festering internal political challenge.

• Saman Ayesha Kidwai
• IDSA Comments

The Pakistani policymakers and academia did not envisage an escalation of attacks in Pakistan after the ascendancy of the Afghan Taliban in August 2021.1 In fact, many commentators and analysts in Pakistan viewed the rise of the Taliban after the Doha greement as a harbinger of a new era in South Asia. However, despite the pledges made by the Taliban and the interim government in Afghanistan, Pakistan has been getting mired in violence. For a fourth consecutive year, Pakistan has seen a surge in violence after the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul. According to ‘Pakistan Security Report 2024’, a total of 521 terrorist attacks took place in Pakistan in 2024—including nine suicide bombings—which killed 852 people and injured 1,124, amounting to a 70 per cent increase in the number of attacks from the previous year.

• Harsh Behere
• October-December 2025
• Journal of Defence Studies

Hangor-class submarines can expand the Pakistan Navy’s ability to sustain an underwater presence.

• Namita Barthwal
• Issue Brief

Deteriorating ties between Pakistan and the Taliban are shaping an emerging regional split vis-à-vis Afghanistan.

• Deepika Saraswat
• Issue Brief

The evolving Saudi–Pakistan relationship is a matter of concern for India, though it poses no direct or immediate security threat to India.

• Prasanta Kumar Pradhan
• Issue Brief

Pakistan's construction of new military infrastructure on the western bank of Sir Creek has renewed attention on the long-standing boundary dispute.

• Namita Barthwal
• IDSA Comments

The Taliban 2.0 have refused to bow to Pakistan’s dictates on multiple issues, including on cracking down on the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan and their relationship with India.

• Priyanka Singh
• Issue Brief

The monograph examines the inception of China's geostrategic/geo-economic pivot towards Pakistan— and more recently, Afghanistan— before charting the trajectory of its expanding role in the Af-Pak region. It assesses the viability of the evolving geopolitical triangle comprising China, Pakistan and Afghanistan, before evaluating possible Chinese strategy behind deepening engagement with a region marked by chronic volatility. The study, in particular, assesses China's strategic interests in Afghanistan and how Pakistan remains central to its Afghan policy. The monograph also seeks to explore whether the return of the Taliban and China's rising profile in the region would signal the evolution and fruition of China's Af-Pak strategy. By examining both convergences and divergences in Afghanistan and Pakistan's bilateral ties with China, the study investigates the contours of a potentially hyphenated approach. It concludes by outlining prominent security paradigms in the region and the inherent dilemmas that shape China's strategic calculus in this complex geopolitical theatre.

• Priyanka Singh
• October 31, 2025
• Monograph

South Asia is witnessing new alignments, with divergences between old allies (the Afghan Taliban and Pakistan) and convergences between new partners (India and the Afghan Taliban).

• Saman Ayesha Kidwai
• Issue Brief

The Saudi-Pakistan defence pact symbolises regional actors' growing autonomy and assertiveness in reshaping the regional security environment.

• Deepika Saraswat
• IDSA Comments