Last night, on @aljazeera.com, I explained how Pakistan is uniquely positioned to translate each stakeholder's red lines and bring the US and Iran to the negotiating table.
Watch here: mediaview.aljazeera.com/video/UTgfEI...
In other words, this war has shown that 🇵🇰 has real strategic value.
3/ 🇵🇰’s own experience managing escalation with India has made it familiar with rapid escalation under the nuclear shadow and experience with backchannel diplomacy during crises (e.g., post-2019 Pulwama-Balakot).
2/ 🇵🇰 did not directly participate in strikes, and hence is not part of the anti-🇮🇷 coalition, and
1/ Unlike the GCC states, 🇵🇰 does not have a 🇺🇸 base on its soil, and that alone gives it flexibility in a regional crisis, and it did not make 🇵🇰 a target for 🇮🇷 missiles,
IMO, three facts allowed 🇵🇰 to serve as a mediator between 🇺🇸 & 🇮🇷:
Despite broad disapproval of the war against Iran, Spain has largely stood alone among US allies in rejecting the use of joint bases for attacks against Iran.
@david-vine.bsky.social and IGA’s @khansahar1.bsky.social argue more countries should do the same.
Read in @counterpunchmedia.bsky.social.
I write about how 🇮🇳 & 🇵🇰 are incorporating AI into their militaries, increasing the need for credible "guardrails" to reduce escalation risks and recognize mutual vulnerabilities despite the politics of the region: www.apln.network/analysis/com...
Thanks @kulkarnitanvi.bsky.social & @apln.network!
Let's be clear: you would not be pulling THAADs from South Korea and moving a Marine Expeditionary Unit from Japan to the Gulf two weeks after launching a war on Iran if you had properly anticipated the fallout it would be likely to cause.
In the latest installment of @inkstickmedia.com's "Adults in a Room," which discusses US policy toward China, and their "spheres of influence," I wrote about how India isn't part of any sphere: inkstickmedia.com/in-trump-2-0...
@khansahar1.bsky.social, PhD, is an independent researcher focused on grand strategy and the geopolitics of South Asia.
As an IGA nonresident fellow, Sahar will assess regional security, strategic stability, US policy choices, and great-power competition in South Asia.
Here are my quick thoughts on the "spheres of influence" discussion after the release of the NSS and NDS: responsiblestatecraft.org/us-china-sph...
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I finally listened to @indopacpodcast.bsky.social's with Timothy Cho, North Korean defector & human rights advocate. It's a powerful reminder to remember the "voiceless" millions under DPRK repression as it continues to develop WMDs. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
"This rarely talked about cooperation is understood to cover Russian assistance with the SSBNs’ compact 80-85MW pressurised light-water reactors, advanced metallurgy, pressure-hull, hydrodynamic design and ‘acoustic quieting’ techniques as well as sonar, navigation, and underwater communication technologies. Equally important has been the flow of operational doctrines and crew-handling practices derived from Russia’s own SSBN force: patrol-cycle structuring, damage-control protocols, radiological-safety routines, and command-and-control discipline for strategic assets. These inputs from Russian engineers, technicians and others collectively accelerated India’s ability to field reliable sea-based deterrent platforms and entrenched a level of strategic interdependence that continues to anchor Delhi’s defence relationship with Moscow. So far, India has commissioned two SSBNs and is on course to induct a third, followed by yet another similar platform soon thereafter. The IN is also awaiting delivery of a Russian Akula-class Project 971 Shchuka-B nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN), it had agreed in 2019 to lease for a decade for $3 billion- its third such arrangement since 1988. The SSN was slated for arrival in 2025, but was delayed by the Ukraine war and its delivery is now scheduled for 2028, preserving an essential continuum in India’s nuclear-propulsion and deep-water operations expertise. This leased platform is expected to complement India’s parallel programme to build at least five indigenous SSNs at the SCB, a project in which Russia is widely expected to play a discreet yet consequential role, particularly in reactor integration, hull-form optimisation, and acoustic-management techniques. Therefore, taken together, the intertwined SSBN-SSN initiatives render sustained bilateral cooperation with Moscow, not merely useful, but strategically indispensable for India’s long-term undersea deterrence and blue-water ambitions."
Interesting details on 🇷🇺-🇮🇳 SSBN & SSN cooperation in comprehensive @thewire.in piece -
I went on the John Quincy Adams Society’s podcast called “Security Dilemma” to discuss strategic stability, nonproliferation, and regional security in South Asia.
Please listen here and let me know what you think: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
“[T]he United States already has the world’s most robust, credible, and modern nuclear deterrent in the world—but that status may be undermined if the administration and Congress go chasing the budget-busting boondoggle that Golden Dome is likely.”
Read here: thebulletin.org/2025/12/a-na...
"The images do not simply capture female participation. They are visual proof of how women commanded and dominated political activity, often relegating men to the sidelines."
www.bbc.com/news/article...
I went on @aljazeera.com’s “Inside Story” with Obaidullah Baheer and Hameed Hakimi to discuss the risks of Afghanistan-Pakistan tensions escalating.
Watch here: youtu.be/cYLOj2C54ic
One senior defense official blasted the opinion. “I don’t know what’s more insane – that the ‘President of Peace’ is starting an illegal war or that he’s giving a get out of jail free card to the U.S. military,” said the official. theintercept.com/2025/11/14/b...
When migrants die trying to reach Europe, their families become lost in a maze of bureaucracy and manipulation. Okba Mohammad and Anna Surinyach report on an institutional vacuum that leaves families in the dark and creates a vulnerability bad actors can exploit. www.thedial.world/articles/new...
“Deterrence failed in this intermediate domain—the limited, precision-strike space—which both sides sought to exploit without triggering broader escalation. The ARFC is designed to address this gap by strengthening conventional missile response options and, by extension, conventional deterrence.”
I went on @aljazeera.com yesterday to discuss the current situation in Pakistan. Unfortunately, it’s going to get worse before it gets better, especially since the ceasefire between Pakistan and Afghanistan has failed. Watch it here: mediaview.aljazeera.com/video/hlteAG...
🚨 JUST IN: A newly declassified cable reinforces proliferation concerns about high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel, and reveals an urgent need for an international review of #HALEU use, writes Ed Lyman (@nucsafetyucs.bsky.social).
#uranium #enrichment #proliferation #IAEA #safeguards #nukesky
“U.S. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen joined other Western senators in introducing the No Nuclear Testing Without Approval Act on Wednesday.”
Proud of Nevada!
news3lv.com/news/local/n...
President Trump's recent announcement could open a Pandora's box of nuclear testing, say @khansahar1.bsky.social and @haleemasaadia.bsky.social but it presents India and Pakistan a rare moment of normative leadership to jointly reaffirm their nuclear moratoriums.
Is nuclear testing making a comeback?
Pres. Trump’s declaration about restarting US nuke tests risks unraveling decades of restraint
In our @apln.network commentary, @khansahar1.bsky.social & I argue:India & Pakistan should reject nuclear testing and lead by example.
www.apln.network/analysis/com...
🚨 Where is nuclear competition in South Asia and the Indo-Pacific today? What impact does US-China competition have on nuclear proliferation in Southern Asia?
I answer these questions in my new Texas National Security Review piece: tnsr.org/wp-content/u...
