IDR Blog
Afghanistan: Should go ahead with Shahtoot Dam on Kabul River
When work was begun on Shahtoot dam on Kabul River that would provide drinking water to the burgeoning population of Kabul City, there has been protests from Pakistan that the dam would reduce the water flows into Pakistan. The Dawn in one of the articles has alleged that there could be a drop of 16 to 17 percent of water in the Pakistan...
Chabahar and Taliban: India’s Opportunity to be a Regional Stakeholder?
India’s perceptive on the strategic importance of the Chabahar port in Iran can be a well-earned asset if dealt properly. Since 2001, India has been heavily investing in socio-economic sectors in Afghanistan [[1]]. Taliban’s positive move on support to India is encouraging vis-a-vis India’s strong stand against US to not involve in the...
US weighed in on Pakistan to defuse South Asian crisis
Despite Washington’s preoccupations with the US-North Korea summit in Hanoi, the United States had launched intense diplomatic efforts to tamp down the rising India-Pakistan tension before Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s announcement that he was going to free the Indian pilot captured by his country. There are enough signs that Washington...
A Highly Strategic Corridor
A couple of weeks ago, The Washington Postpublished an article titled: “In Central Asia’s forbidding highlands, a quiet newcomer: Chinese troops”; it reported : “Two miles above sea level in the inhospitable highlands of Central Asia, there’s a new power watching over an old passage into Afghanistan: China.” According to interviews,...
Islamabad must heed revolt brewing in its backyard
While the focus in the media lately has been on Kashmir Valley, what has not got enough public attention is that residents of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) have been resorting to agitations, demonstrations and rallies against what they term as excesses and exploitations of Islamabad. The inhabitants of POK, a territory Pakistan calls “Azad...