This was never going to be an easy meeting between the leaders of one of the oldest democracies and the world’s largest dictatorship. The two countries have an increasingly conflicted relationship: on the one hand, they are global partners, especially but not solely in the international economic sphere, but, on the other hand, their strategic…
In the last few months a number of decisions have been taken by the Government of Pakistan which have entrenched that country even further into China’s geostrategic orbit. And although China and Pakistan have had a long and fruitful relationship for well over 50 years, it was the launch, during a visit to Pakistan by…
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif must be extremely relieved that Pakistan’s parliament voted unanimously on Friday 10 April not to send troops in support of Saudi Arabia’s military operation in Yemen. While Saudi Arabia will not be pleased with that outcome, the parliamentarians’ decision was a wise one. This was a difficult decision for the Pakistan…
The four-month old military operation in North Waziristan – Operation Zarb-e-Azb – and the smaller, more recent one in the Khyber Agency – Operation Khyber-I – against the various militant groups holed up in those areas have been successful, but only in a limited way. While the military capability of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the…
