Opinion

Bannu, Kabul, Regional Terror Threat, Fateh Khel Suicide Attack, Pakistan's War on Terror and Afghan Soil

From Bannu to Kabul, The Regional Terror Threat Can No Longer Be Ignored

Opinion /

The suicide attack on the Fateh Khel police station in Bannu was not just another terrorist incident. In my opinion, it was a reminder that Pakistan continues to face a determined and evolving terrorist threat, particularly in the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bordering Afghanistan. I have covered militancy and security developments in this region […]

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15 Coffins in Bannu, Silent Leaders, and a Failing Border: Inside the Escalating War and the Unanswered Question of Who Really Holds Power

Opinion /

(Shamim Shahid) The recent tragedy in Bannu is not merely another entry in Pakistan’s long and painful ledger of militancy-related violence. It is, instead, a stark reminder of the deteriorating security environment in the country’s northwestern belt, the widening trust deficit between the state and its citizens, and the growing disconnect between political leadership and

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The Cycle of Violence in Pakistan’s Tribal Belt: Targeted Killings, Ideological Extremism, and the Collapse of Governance

Opinion /

(Arif Yousafzai) The targeted killing of Maulana Muhammad Sheikh Idrees in Charsadda, followed by the claim of responsibility by Islamic State – Khorasan Province, has once again exposed the fragile and deteriorating security landscape of Pakistan’s northwestern region. It is not an isolated incident but part of a widening pattern of violence that has, over

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Operation Sindoor, Marak-e-Haq, Operation Bunyan al-Marsoos, Pakistan India War 2025, CDF Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and PM Shehbaz Sharif

One Year After Operation Sindoor, Pakistan Stands Stronger and More Prepared

Opinion /

In what many across Pakistan now commemorate as Marak-e-Haq, when India launched Operation Sindoor, the expectation in New Delhi appeared to be that Pakistan would either lose control of the narrative or fail to respond decisively. What happened instead was the opposite. Pakistan not only responded militarily, but also diplomatically and psychologically, in a way

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One by One They Were Killed But Who Is Protecting the Network Behind the Assassinations of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Scholars?

Opinion /

(Irfan Khan) The assassination of Sheikh-ul-Hadith Maulana Muhammad Idrees has once again brought Khyber Pakhtunkhwa into the center of uncomfortable questions that have remained unresolved for years. Each such killing of a religious scholar does not only close a life it reopens a wider debate about security gaps, investigative outcomes, and the repeated inability to

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Pakistan-India Confrontation, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Operation Bunyan al-Marsoos, Sheikh Idris

From Battlefield to Diplomacy: How Pakistan Rewrote the Rules of Power After Marka-e-Haq

Opinion /

As far as I see it, Pakistan gained from Marka-e-Haq and lost nothing. There is an old doctrine in strategic thinking that wars, despite destruction, also create opportunities. Everything depends on whether a nation’s leadership possesses the vision and courage to convert conflict into strategic advantage. In my opinion, Pakistan’s military and political leadership succeeded

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When Peace Was Finally Within Reach: The Assassination That Silenced Secret Pakistan–Afghanistan Talks and Exposed a Hidden War Behind the War

Opinion /

(Shamim Shahid) The assassination of religious scholar Sheikh Idris is not merely another tragic incident in the long and bloodstained history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is a message. A warning. A reminder that whenever even a faint possibility of peace emerges between Pakistan and Afghanistan, forces hidden in the shadows move swiftly to sabotage it.

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Sheikh Idris’s Killing, Terror and Talks, Daesh Khurasan or ISKP, Pakistan Afghan Taliban Tension, Pakistan's War on Terror and India-Backed Afghan Taliban's Double Game

Terror, Talks, and Tension: What Sheikh Idris’s Killing Reveals

Opinion /

Whenever such a tragic incident, like Sheikh Idris’s killing, occurs, the motive behind it is rarely ambiguous. It is almost always rooted in the intent to spread fear, to create chaos, and to inject instability into an already fragile environment. In the case of Sheikh Idrees’ assassination in Charsadda, the group that has claimed responsibility,

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Guns, Generals, and Ghost Networks: The Secret Calculations Behind Pakistan’s Security Huddle and a Killing That Could Redraw the Region

Opinion /

(Irfan Khan) In South Asia’s already complex security landscape, moments of official high-level deliberation often become more than routine bureaucratic exercises they become signals, interpretations, and sometimes, battlegrounds of perception. The recent Corps Commander Conference in Pakistan, coupled with the ongoing investigation into the assassination of a religious scholar, Maulana Muhammad Idrees, has triggered exactly

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Inside Afghanistan’s Information Blackout: IS-K Allegations, Poison Rumors, and a Power Structure Struggling for Certainty

Opinion /

(Mushtaq Yusufzai) In recent days, once again, Pakistan–Afghanistan relations have entered a phase of renewed tension, triggered by fresh allegations and counter-allegations, particularly regarding the presence and alleged facilitation of the Islamic State–Khorasan Province (IS-K). As someone who has followed this region closely for decades, I believe these developments cannot be understood through isolated statements

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