South Asia

What Will a New Army Chief Mean for Pakistan and the Neighborhood?

By Shuja Nawaz

Since it was announced last month that Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, would be retiring, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has kept the country dangling on his choice, creating a new parlor game for the chattering classes in the process. General Kayani has been characteristically mum, except for an unusual press release that said he was […]

Addressing India’s cyber threats

India is quickly becoming the second-largest victim of cyberattacks after the United States and earlier this year released its first national Cyber Security Policy, which aims to ensure a secure and resilient cyberspace for citizens, businesses, and the government.

A New Honeymoon for the United States and Pakistan?

By Shuja Nawaz

A relationship that has been described as a rollercoaster ride or tagged as a deal between “frenemies” appears to have been rejuvenated with a fresh infusion of bonhomie. Some might describe it similar to the Liz Taylor-Richard Burton marriages: shouting and screaming matches followed by a quiet make-up. Is there another honeymoon in the making […]

Learning from Afghanistan: Multilateralism is Hard

By Steve Saideman, Political Violence @ a Glance

[W]hat can we learn from the Afghanistan effort?

Emerging Leaders of Pakistan Share Their Stories

As part of the 2013 Emerging Leaders of Pakistan visit to the United States, the South Asia Center hosted an event in which four of the fellows, chosen by their peers,  provided overviews of their civil society initiatives. The entire class of fellows participated in the interactive discussion and shared stories and ideas on how […]

NATO Reduces Scope of Its Afghanistan Plans

By Thom Shanker, New York Times

After months of tense negotiations over the size and role of a postwar presence in Afghanistan, senior North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials say they are planning a more minimalist mission

Moving Out of Af-Pak

By Sherry Rehman

Tomorrow Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, will meet President Barack Obama in Washington, to signal Islamabad’s renewed interest in a broad-based relationship with the US. This will be the first opportunity for both leaders to size up each other’s resolve, identify new areas of cooperation, re-assess perennial issues, and calibrate upcoming challenges. Given that the bandwidth for […]

Advice on Doing Business with Pakistan

By Shuja Nawaz

Dear Mr. President, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is meeting with you on Wednesday with high expectations. He is a pragmatic business-oriented politician with a powerful electoral base who has shown magnanimity and deftness in allowing opposition parties to form governments in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces, and he backed the election of a nationalist Baloch as the chief minister in Baluchistan. […]