Ahmad Fawad Arsala

The diplomatic proposals now circulating to end the escalating war involving Iran, the United States, and Israel appear at first glance to be irreconcilable. Washington has presented a 15-point framework that focuses heavily on limiting…

The ongoing war involving Iran, Israel, and the United States has entered a decisive phase. After weeks of intense air and missile exchanges, the battlefield dynamics increasingly suggest that the conflict will shape Iran’s political…

The bombing of a rehabilitation center in Kabul is not just an atrocity, it is a confession. A confession that Pakistan has lost control of its neighborhood, its strategy, and increasingly, its own. This is not counterterrorism. This is…

The conflict involving Iran is not only a Middle Eastern crisis. Its consequences extend far beyond the Gulf, reaching Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the wider Central Asian region. When combined with Pakistan’s growing confrontation with…

Pakistan’s leaders are once again congratulating themselves for killing militants in Balochistan and launching new operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Press releases fly. Body counts are celebrated. The script is familiar: more force, more…

For decades, Iranian protesters have risen up knowing one bitter truth: no matter how brave, how widespread, or how justified their revolt, they would ultimately stand alone. Western leaders would issue statements. Diplomats would “express…

Iran has reached a point where protest alone may no longer be sufficient to dismantle the Islamic Republic’s entrenched machinery of repression. The latest nationwide unrest, coupled with the regime’s increasing reliance on brute force,…

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s repeated, almost theatrical gratitude toward Donald Trump for “resolving” the recent India–Pakistan conflict is not diplomacy,  it is an inadvertent confession. When read carefully, Pakistan’s own…

Afghanistan’s recent water-resources decisions, including the recent in-principle approval of a major water transfer scheme, must be evaluated in the context of intensifying tensions with Pakistan, a diplomatic opening with India, and…

When Donald Trump re-entered the White House, much of the world braced for unpredictability. Yet beneath the theatrics, bluster, and daily headline storms, a remarkably coherent foreign-policy strategy is taking shape, one that is far more…